Manipulating electronic backups

• US 9,354,982 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2015
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Weiss, Eric A., Cisler, Pavel, McInerney, Peter, Giampaolo, Dominic B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US14/603,772
• Publication Number:
  US 20150142746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 494 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for storing and restoring digital data. In some implementations, a method is provided. The method includes initiating a backup operation of data including a plurality of items, interrupting the backup operation, where interrupting occurs after a portion of the data has been completed, receiving an input to resume the backup operation, identifying a previously completed portion of the backup data, and performing a backup of a remaining uncompleted portion of the backup data. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, computer program products, and computer readable media.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating an initial backup operation of data including a plurality of items;

interrupting the initial backup operation after a portion of the data is backed up;

associating the backed up data with a timestamp;

receiving an input to resume the initial backup operation;

comparing the timestamp with a timestamp of a last completed backup operation;

based on the comparing, resuming the initial backup operation to back up a remaining portion of the data;

completing the initial backup operation;

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items during the initial backup operation; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified during the initial backup operation, modifying the backed up data based on the determination,

where the method is performed by one or more processors.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items during the modifying of the backed up data; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified during the modifying of the backed up data, further modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating, until a stop condition is met;

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items during the modifying of the backed up data; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified during the modifying of the backed up data, further modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the stop condition corresponds to a determination that none of the plurality of items were modified during the modifying of the backed up data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the stop condition corresponds to a determination that a number of repetitions has exceeded a pre-determined number.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items after competition of the initial backup; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified after completion of the initial backup, further modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein interrupting the initial backup operation includes at least one of receiving a user input that causes the initial backup operation to be interrupted or interrupting the initial backup operation in response to a system crash.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an input to resume the initial backup operation includes at least one of receiving a user request to resume the initial backup operation or receiving an automatic request to resume the initial backup operation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the completed portion of the backup data includes at least one of identifying backup data written to a backup before the initial backup operation was interrupted or identifying a portion of a file system included in the completed portion.

10. A computer program product encoded on a tangible, non-transitory storage medium, the product comprising computer readable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

initiating an initial backup operation of data including a plurality of items;

interrupting the initial backup operation after a portion of the data is backed up;

associating the backed up data with a timestamp;

receiving an input to resume the initial backup operation;

comparing the timestamp with a timestamp of a last completed backup operation;

based on the comparing, resuming the initial backup operation to back up a remaining portion of the data;

completing the initial backup operation;

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items during the initial backup operation; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified during the initial backup operation, modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items during the modifying of the backed up data; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified during the modifying of the backed up data, further modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

repeating, until a stop condition is met;

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items during the modifying of the backed up data; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified during the modifying of the backed up data, further modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the stop condition corresponds to a determination that none of the plurality of items were modified during the modifying of the backed up data.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the stop condition corresponds to a determination that a number of repetitions has exceeded a pre-determined number.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring for modifications to one or more items of the plurality of items after competition of the initial backup; and

upon determining that one or more items of the plurality of items were modified after completion of the initial backup, further modifying the backed up data based on the determination.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein interrupting the initial backup operation includes at least one of receiving a user input that causes the initial backup operation to be interrupted or interrupting the initial backup operation in response to a system crash.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein receiving an input to resume the initial backup operation includes at least one of receiving a user request to resume the initial backup operation or receiving an automatic request to resume the initial backup operation.

18. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein identifying the completed portion of the backed up data includes at least one of identifying backup data written to a backup before the initial backup operation was interrupted or identifying a portion of a file system included in the completed portion.