System and method for storing redundant information

A system for improving the retrieval of a data object in a network environment that contains multiple instances of the data object, the system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• at least one memory, coupled to the processor;
• means, coupled among the at least one processor and memory, for receiving a request to access the data object at a first location;
• means, coupled among the at least one processor and memory, for determining at least one alternative location of an instance of the requested data object, wherein the at least one alternative location is not the first location;
• means, coupled among the at least one processor and memory, for selecting an instance of the data object from among the determined at least one alternative location to use to satisfy the request;
• and
• means, coupled among the at least one processor and memory, for sending the selected instance of the data object in response to the request,
• wherein, coupled among the at least one processor and memory, the request contains a digest value for identifying the data object, and
• wherein, coupled among the at least one processor and memory, determining the at least one alternative location of an instance of the requested data object comprises comparing the digest value to an index of digest values of data objects stored within the network environment.

At least one tangible computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by at least one data processing device performs a method for restoring data from a deduplicated copy, comprising:

• receiving a request to restore to a destination location one or more data objects originally located within a hierarchy,
• wherein the copy of data contains information describing the hierarchy, but only contains a reduced instance of each data object of the hierarchy for storage on sequential media, and
• wherein the request specifies an original location within the hierarchy of the data objects to be restored;
• for each data object in the request:
• determining whether the data at the original location within the hierarchy specified by the request contains the data object itself or a reference to a data object and the data object is stored elsewhere;
• wherein the request contains a digest value for identifying each data object,
• wherein the determining comprises comparing the digest value to an index of digest values of data objects stored within a computer system;
• if the original location within the hierarchy specified by the request contains a reference to a data object, resolving the reference to find the data object and copying the data object to the destination location;
• and
• if the original location within the hierarchy specified by the request contains the data object itself, copying the data object to the destination location.