Method and system for creating and restoring an image file
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsWesley A. Witt, Edward S. Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image file format and a method of creating and restoring an image file is provided by the present invention. The image file format includes a plurality of streams such as a control stream, a data stream, a bitmap stream, and a cluster map stream. An audit trail stream, properties stream and fix-up stream may also be provided. The present invention allows the contents of a storage media to be captured and stored as an image file. The image file is used to restore the storage media to a previous state or allows multiple computers to be provided with a common configuration. The plurality of streams further allow the image file to be viewed, edited or otherwise manipulated.
Claims32
A destination storage media having an image file stored thereon, wherein the image file is created from source data stored on a source storage media, the image file including a plurality of image streams, comprising:
- a control stream including data identifying the image file;
- a data stream containing the source data;
- and
- a cluster map stream containing a plurality of records, each record identifying:
- a first location corresponding to allocation of a portion of the source data on the source media, and
- a second location corresponding to a location of the portion of source data in the data stream.
A method for creating an image file on a destination storage media volume from source data on a source storage media volume;
- the source data including a plurality of files and control information that identifies a location on the source storage media containing data for each of the plurality of files, comprising:
- creating a plurality of image streams including a data stream, and a cluster map stream;
- reading the control information and identifying the location of the data for at least one file on the source storage media volume;
- reading the data for the at least one file;
- writing the data for the at least one file into the data stream;
- creating a cluster map record identifying the location of the data on the source storage media volume and a location of the data in the data stream;
- adding the cluster map record to the cluster map stream;
- and
- writing the plurality of image streams to the destination storage media.
A method for restoring data to a first storage media from an image file on a second storage media, wherein the image file comprises a cluster map stream and a data stream, the cluster map including a plurality of records and the data stream including the data to be restored to the first storage media volume;
- reading, from the image file, one of the plurality of records, the record identifying:
- a first location corresponding to a location of a set of data in the data stream;
- a second location, the second location corresponding to a location for the set of data on the first storage media;
- reading the data from the data stream from the first location;
- writing the data to the first storage media at the second location;
A computer-readable medium having computer executable instruction for creating an image file on a destination storage media volume from source data on a source storage media volume;
- the source data including a plurality of files and control information that identifies a location on the source storage media containing data for each of the plurality of files, comprising:
- creating a plurality of image streams including a data stream, and a cluster map stream;
- reading the control information and identifying the location of the data for at least one file on the source storage media volume;
- reading the data for the at least one file;
- writing the data for the at least one file into the data stream;
- creating a cluster map record identifying the location of the data on the source storage media volume and a location of the data in the data stream;
- adding the cluster map record to the cluster map stream;
- and
- writing the plurality of image streams to the destination storage media.
A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for restoring data to a first storage media from an image file on a second storage media, wherein the image file comprises a cluster map stream and a data stream, the cluster map including a plurality of records and the data stream including the data to be restored to the first storage media volume;
- reading, from the image file, one of the plurality of records, the record identifying a first location, the first location corresponding to a location of a set of data in the data stream and identifying a second location, the second location corresponding to a location for the set of data on the first storage media;
- reading the data from the data stream from the first location;
- writing the data to the first storage media at the second location;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.