# US 8,788,801 B2 · Backup and recovery of systems by restoring a backup boot configuration data (BCD) with installation files from an operating system install disk

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- Number: US 8,788,801 B2
- Document ID: US8788801B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 12/542,953
- Filed: 2009-08-18
- Published: 2011-02-24
- Granted: 2014-07-22
- Earliest claimed: 2009-08-18
- Assignees: CA, Inc.
- Applicants: Jinqiang Wang; Xuan Li
- Inventors: Jinqiang Wang; Xuan Li
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8788801B2

## CPC

- G06F 11/1469: {Backup restoration techniques}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Various embodiments includes at least one of systems, methods, and software for backup and recovery of systems including boot configuration data in an extension firmware interface partition. Generating a backup, in some embodiments, includes copying Boot Configuration Data (BCD) from a registry of an operating system executing on a computer into a file and storing the file. These and other embodiments may include a system restore process that consumes this file. Such a process may operate to identify an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) hard disk partition on a hard disk of a system to be restored, temporarily assign a drive letter to the identified EFI hard disk partition, and copy files common amongst all installations an operating system to be restored on the system along with BCD data from the BCD file to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter. The system may then be rebooted.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
verifying a Boot Configuration Data (BCD) is a proper BCD by determining if a sub-key of the registry hive includes a specific parameter;
copying the BCD from a registry hive of an operating system executing on a computer into a file, wherein the registry hive is one of a plurality of registry hives;
storing the file on a removable storage medium from which a read operation can be performed during a recovery operation of the computer; and
performing a bare-metal restore at boot of the computer as a function of the file including the BCD, performance of the restore including:
creating an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) partition when the EFI partition does not exist;
obtaining a disk number and partition number of the EFI partition of the computer;
assigning a drive letter to the EFI hard disk partition;
copying files common amongst installations of the operating system from an operating system install disk to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter;
copying the BCD from the file on the removable storage medium to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter;
unassigning the drive letter from the EFI hard disk partition; and
rebooting the computer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the registry hive from which the BCD is copied includes a registry hive with a key of “HKEY_LOCAL_MACH1NE\BCD0000000X” where X is one of the numbers zero (0) to nine (9).

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium is an optical disk.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
copying other data from data storage devices of the computer; and
storing the other data on a storage medium from which a read operation can be performed during a recovery operation of the computer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the storage medium storing the file including the BCD and the storage medium storing the other data are the same storage medium.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the other data includes files of one or more applications installed on the computer.

### Claim 7

A method comprising:
verifying a Boot Configuration Data (BCD) is a proper BCD by determining if a sub-key of a registry hive of a plurality of registry hives of an operating system includes a specific parameter, the operating system executing on a computer;
storing the BCD from the registry hive of the operating system onto a removable storage medium from which a read operation can be performed during a recovery operation of the computer; and
performing a bare-metal restore at boot of the computer, performance of the restore including:
creating an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) partition when the EFI partition does not exist;
obtaining a disk number and hard disk partition number of the EFI partition of a target computer to be restored;
assigning a drive letter to the EFI hard disk partition;
copying files common amongst installations of an operating system to be restored on the target computer, the files copied from an operating system install disk to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter;
copying Boot Configuration Data (BCD) from the removable storage medium to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter;
unassigning the drive letter from the EFI hard disk partition; and
rebooting the target computer.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein obtaining the disk and hard disk partition number of the EFI partition includes retrieving a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) of the EFI hard disk partition.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising:
prior to the unassigning of the drive letter from the EFI hard disk partition and the rebooting of the target computer, copying other data from a storage medium storing data backed up from a source computer from which the BCD was copied; and
storing the copied data to a hard disk partition other than the EFI hard disk partition.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the other data includes:
files of one or more applications installed on the source computer to be restored on the target computer.

### Claim 11 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the file holding the BCD copied to the EFI hard disk partition is created on a source computer according to a process comprising:
copying Boot Configuration Data (BCD) from a registry hive of an operating system executing on the source computer, the BCD copied into a file;
storing the file on a storage medium from which a read operation can be performed during a recovery operation of the target computer.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the registry hive from which the BCD is copied includes a registry hive with a key of “HKEY_LOCAL_MACH1NE\BCD0000000X” where X is a number between zero (0) and nine (9).

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the storage medium is a data storage device accessible over a network via network interface devices of both the source and the target computers.

### Claim 14

A non-transitory computer-readable medium, with instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor of a target computer to be restored, cause the target computer to:
verify a Boot Configuration Data (BCD) is a proper BCD by determining if a sub-key of a registry hive of a plurality of registry hives of an operating system includes a specific parameter, the operating system executing on a computer
store the BCD from the registry hive of the operating system onto a removable storage medium from which a read operation can be performed during a recovery operation of the computer; and
perform a bare-metal restore at boot of the computer, performance of the restore including:
create an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) partition when the EFI partition does not exist;
identify an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) hard disk partition of the target computer;
temporarily assign a drive letter to the identified EFI hard disk partition;
copy files common amongst installations of an operating system to be restored on the target computer, the files copied from an operating system install disk to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter;
copy Boot Configuration Data (BCD) from the removable storage medium to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter; and
reboot the target computer.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, with further instructions executable by the processor of the target computer to:
prior to rebooting of the target computer, copy other data from a storage medium storing data backed up from a source computer from which the BCD was copied; and
store the copied data to a hard disk partition of the target computer other than the EFI hard disk partition.

### Claim 16

A system comprising:
at least one processor, at least one memory device, at least one hard disk, a video output device, and at least one input device interconnected via at least one integrated circuit board; and
a system restore application stored on a computer-readable storage medium readable by a data reading device of the system, the application including instructions executable by the at least one processor to:
verify a Boot Configuration Data (BCD) is a proper BCD by determining if a sub-key of a registry hive of a plurality of registry hives of an operating system includes a specific parameter, the operating system executing on a computer;
store the BCD from the registry hive of the operating system onto a removable storage medium from which a read operation can be performed during a recovery operation of the computer; and
perform a bare-metal restore at boot of the computer, performance of the restore including:
create an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) partition when the EFI partition does not exist;
identify an Extension Firmware Interface (EFI) hard disk partition on one of the at least one hard disk of the system;
temporarily assign a drive letter to the identified EFI hard disk partition;
copy files common amongst installations of an operating system to be restored on the system, the files copied from an operating system install disk to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter;
copy Boot Configuration Data (BCD) from the removable storage medium to the EFI hard disk partition according to the assigned drive letter; and
reboot the system.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the operating system is a Microsoft® Windows® operating system.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein identifying the EFI hard disk partition includes obtaining a disk number and hard disk partition number of EFI hard disk partition via an operating system BCD_Edit application programming interface call to retrieve a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) of the EFI hard disk partition.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The system of claim 16, wherein the system restore application is further executable by the at least one processor to:
prior to rebooting of the target computer, copy other data from a storage medium storing data backed up from a source computer from which the BCD was copied; and
store the copied data to a hard disk partition of the target computer other than the EFI hard disk partition.