Method For Preserving Access To Deleted And Overwritten Documents By Means Of A System Recycle Bin

A method for preserving access to deleted and overwritten data within a system containing reference data to point to data within the system filestore the method comprising steps of:

• (a) determining that a delete/overwrite command has been issued;
• (b) recording and physically separating the reference data prior to the deleting and updating of the reference data;
• (c) access preserving said reference data recorded;
• (d) access preserving supplementary reference data associated with the before delete or overwritten reference data contained within the system;
• (e) providing a combination means to combine said reference data and the supplementary data associated to point to the deleted/overwritten data within the system filestore with a date timestamp;
• (f) identifying and storing data deleted or overwritten from within the system filestore separately to a storage filestore;
• (g) identifying and storing the safe location of said deleted or overwritten data to said combination means;
• (h) a means to allow storage of said combinations means to the storage filestore;
• (i) accessing the combination means to identify and retrieve the reference data and the supplementary data associated using a gui;
• (j) accessing the combination means to identify and retrieve the data deleted or overwritten back to the system filestore, from the storage filestore.
• (k) retrieving and manipulating the reference data as necessary to retrieve the deleted or overwritten data as the original file or a new version of the data.

A system for preserving access to deleted and overwritten data within a system containing reference data to point to data within the system filestore comprising steps of:

• (l) a means to determine that a delete/overwrite command has been issued;
• (m) a means to record and physically separate recorded reference data, deleted from that overwritten prior to deleting, overwriting of the reference data;
• (n) a means to access preserve the reference data recorded;
• (o) a means to access preserve supplementary reference data associated with the before delete or overwritten reference data contained within the system;
• (p) a combination means operable to combine the reference data and the supplementary data associated to point to the deleted/overwritten data within the system filestore with a date-timestamp;
• (q) a means to identify, store and separate, the data deleted/overwritten within documents with exactly the same name to the storage filestore;
• (r) a means to store and identify the safe location of said deleted or overwritten data in the storage filestore to said combination means;
• (s) means to identify and retrieve the reference data, the supplementary data associated and the data deleted or overwritten from the storage filestore wherein the data is viewed on a graphical user interface (gui);
• (t) a means to allow store of said combination means to the storage filestore.

A system for preserving deleted or overwritten document data within a document management system, wherein said document data is stored in a system filestore associated with a system database containing reference data to point to the document data within the system filestore, comprising:

• (u) a data base for storing data and reference data pointing to said document data within said system;
• (v) means for determining that a delete/overwrite command has been issued;
• (w) at least one trigger for catching and recording reference data prior to the deleting or updating of the reference data;
• (x) a first set of access-preservation tables tar storing said recorded reference data deleted or overwritten reference data;
• (y) a second set of access-preservation tables for supplementary document information associated with the before delete or overwritten reference data
• (z) means to combine the recorded reference data stored in the first set of access-preservation tables and supplementary document information in the second set of access-preservation tables;
• (aa) a storage filestore for storing document data deleted or overwritten;
• (bb) means for copying the deleted or overwritten document data from the storage filestore to the system filestore.