Logical restore from a physical backup in a computer storage system
OwnerJohn Deshayes, Madhav Mutalikinventors
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Abstract
Method and apparatus for backing up and restoring data in a computer system is disclosed. A segment of data, such as a virtual disk partition, may be backed up at a physical level from a primary storage device to a backup storage device. A logical element within the segment of data, such as a data file, may be restored from the backup storage device to the primary storage device. In one embodiment, this is achieved by restoring the segment to a scratch memory area and using a client computer to logically restore the logical element.
Claims26
A method of backing up and restoring data in a computer system, the method comprising steps of:
- (a) performing a physical backup of a segment of storage stored on a primary storage device, onto a backup storage device, the segment of storage being used to store a plurality of logical elements;
- and
- (b) logically restoring one of the logical elements stored in the segment of storage.
A method of restoring data from a backup storage device to a primary storage device, the method comprising steps of:
- (a) restoring a copy of a segment of storage to a scratch storage area, the segment of storage being used to store a plurality of logical elements;
- and
- (b) logically restoring one of the logical elements stored in the segment of storage from the copy restored to the scratch storage area.
A method of backing up and restoring data used in a computer system having a primary computer, a primary storage device and a backup storage device, the method comprising steps of:
- (a) using the backup storage device to control backing up a segment of storage stored on the primary storage device by copying at a physical level the segment of storage from the primary storage device to the backup storage device;
- and
- (b) using the primary computer to logically restore a logical element stored in the segment of storage.
A backup storage system for backing up a storage device used by a primary computer, the backup storage system comprising:
- means for controlling a physical backup of a segment of storage stored on the storage device;
- and
- means for logically restoring a logical element from the segment of storage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.