Image backup method for backing up disk partitions of a storage device
AssigneeRoxio, Inc.
InventorsDaniel A. Polfer, Daniel L. Evers, Thomas G. Halloran, Michael D. Berhan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method is provided for backing up data from a storage device having one or more partitions. Each partition has a plurality of clusters that include one or more sectors capable of storing data to be backed up. A number of sectors are specified for a block such that a partition to be backed up is defined in terms of a plurality of the blocks. A block map is then generated to indicate whether each of the blocks in the partition contains any data to be backed up. The block map is then traversed and the blocks that are indicated in the block map to contain the data are backed up from the partition while the blocks having no data are not backed up.
Claims29
A method for backing up data from a fixed disk drive having one or more partitions, each partition having a plurality of clusters, each cluster including one or more sectors capable of storing data to be backed up, the method comprising:
- specifying a number of sectors to be included in a block such that a partition to be backed up is defined in terms of a plurality of the blocks;
- generating a block map that indicates whether each of the blocks in the partition contains data to be backed up;
- and
- traversing the block map and backing up only the blocks that are indicated in the block map to contain the data to be backed up from the partition such that blocks having no data are not backed up.
A method for backing up data from a fixed disk drive having one or more partitions, each partition having a file allocation table and a plurality of clusters, the file allocation table having a cluster entry for each of the clusters in the partition to indicate whether each cluster has any valid data for backup, each of the clusters including one or more sectors capable of storing data to be backed up, the method comprising:
- defining a block to include N contiguous sectors such that a partition to be backed up is specified in terms of M blocks, the N sectors in the blocks providing a specified backup granularity;
- traversing the file allocation table to determine if any cluster entries in each of the blocks indicate that the associated block contains data to be backed up, wherein a block is indicated to contain the data to be backed up when any cluster entry in the block is indicated as having any data to be backed up;
- generating a block map having M block entries corresponding to the M blocks, one block entry per block, each of the M block entries indicating whether the associated block in the partition contains the data to be backed up;
- and
- backing up, in response to the block map, only the blocks that are indicated to be containing the data to be backed up and not backing up blocks with no data.
A method for identifying data for backup from a fixed disk drive having one or more partitions, each partition having a file allocation table and a plurality of clusters, the file allocation table having a cluster entry for each of the clusters in the partition to indicate whether each cluster has any valid data for backup, each of the clusters including one or more sectors capable of storing data to be backed up, the method comprising:
- defining a block to include N contiguous sectors such that a partition to be backed up is specified in terms of M blocks, the N sectors in the blocks providing a specified backup granularity;
- traversing the file allocation table to determine if any cluster entries in each of the blocks indicate that the associated block contains data to be backed up, wherein a block is indicated to contain the data to be backed up when any cluster entry in the block is indicated as having any data to be backed up, and the block is not backed up when no data is present in the block;
- and
- generating a block map having M block entries corresponding to the M blocks, one block entry per block, each of the M block entries indicating whether the associated block in the partition contains the data to be backed up.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.