Systems and methods to protect deleted files

Abstract

A data storage system protects data identified for deletion which has been created or modified between scheduled data backups. The system copies the data to temporary storage, normalizes the copy, and merges the normalized data from the temporary storage to a secondary storage device. For instance, the system merges the data on the secondary storage device at locations indicated by the file path saved in metadata. In another manner, the system merges changes between the previously backed up version of the data and the data identified for deletion into the previously backed up version of the data stored on the secondary storage device at the locations indicated by the file path. In a further manner, the system merges the differences between the previously backed up version of the data and the data identified for deletion at the locations indicated by the file path.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.