System and method for backing up a computer system

An article of manufacture for restoring data on a data storage system from data on a backup storage system, the backup storage system including a plurality of transactions, each transaction corresponding to a plurality of data writes to the data storage system, the article of manufacture comprising:

• at least one non-transitory processor readable storage medium;
• and
• instructions stored on the at least one medium;
• wherein the instructions are configured to be readable from the at least one medium by at least one processor and thereby cause the at least one processor to operate so as to:
• receive an estimated transaction location based on a first instance of an application;
• identify a transaction associated with the estimated transaction location;
• apply an individual data write subsequent to the identified transaction to an image of data on the backup storage system, thereby recreating data on the data storage system at the time of the individual data write;
• mount a second instance of an application over the image of data;
• and
• select an object from the second instance of the application to be restored to the live open first instance of the application, wherein the first instance of the application remains live and open during restoration of the selected object to the first instance, wherein restoration of the selected object comprises restoring the selected object to an active production image of the first instance.

A computer system comprising:

• a backup storage system;
• a data storage system;
• and
• one or more processors communicatively coupled to a network;
• wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
• receive an estimated transaction location based on a first instance of an application;
• identify a transaction associated with the estimated transaction location;
• apply an individual data write subsequent to the identified transaction to an image of data on the backup storage system, thereby recreating data on the data storage system at the time of the individual data write;
• mount a second instance of an application over the image of data;
• and
• select an object from the second instance of the application to be restored to the live open first instance of the application, wherein the first instance of the application remains live and open during restoration of the selected object to the first instance, wherein restoration of the selected object comprises restoring the selected object to an active production image of the first instance.