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US 8,914,324 B1Granted
De-duplication storage system with improved reference update efficiency
AssigneeSymantec Corporation
InventorsFanglu Guo, Weibao Wu, Tzi-cker Chiueh, Petros Efstathopoulos
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for backing up files to a single-instance storage system are disclosed. The files may be split into segments, and the file data may be stored in the single-instance storage system as individual segments. The single-instance storage system uses the concept of a file region which covers multiple segments of the file. If a region of a file is unchanged from one backup to the next, the system may use a region object to refer to the unchanged region. This avoids the need to update the reference information for each of the segments within the region, thus increasing the efficiency of backing up the new version of the file.
Claims20
A non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium storing program instructions executable to:
- backup a particular version of a file, wherein the file includes a plurality of data segments, wherein each of the data segments includes a plurality of bytes of data, wherein in backing up the particular version of the file, the program instructions are executable to:
- identify a plurality of regions of the file, wherein each of the regions includes two or more data segments of the plurality of data segments;
- in response to determining that one or more of the data segments have changed since a previous version of the file was backed up, store each of the one or data segments that have changed;
- determine that one or more of the regions of the file have not changed since the previous version of the file was backed up;
- store file information representing the particular version of the file, wherein the file information includes information referencing each of the one or more regions that have not changed and information referencing each of the one or more data segments that have changed;
- and
- update respective reference information for each of the one or more regions that have not changed to indicate that the one or more regions are referenced by the file information.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- backing up a particular version of a file to a computer system, wherein the file includes a plurality of data segments, wherein each of the data segments includes a plurality of bytes of data, wherein backing up the particular version of the file includes:
- identifying a plurality of regions of the file, wherein each of the regions includes two or more data segments of the plurality of data segments;
- in response to determining that one or more of the data segments have changed since a previous version of the file was backed up, storing each of the one or data segments that have changed;
- determining that one or more of the regions of the file have not changed since the previous version of the file was backed up;
- storing file information representing the particular version of the file in the computer system, wherein the file information includes information referencing each of the one or more regions that have not changed and information referencing each of the one or more data segments that have changed;
- and
- updating respective reference information for each of the one or more regions that have not changed to indicate that the one or more regions are referenced by the file information.
4 more elements
A system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing program instructions;
- wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to backup a particular version of a file, wherein the file includes a plurality of data segments, wherein each of the data segments includes a plurality of bytes of data, wherein in backing up the particular version of the file, the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to:
- identify a plurality of regions of the file, wherein each of the regions includes two or more data segments of the plurality of data segments;
- in response to determining that one or more of the data segments have changed since a previous version of the file was backed up, store each of the one or data segments that have changed;
- determine that one or more of the regions of the file have not changed since the previous version of the file was backed up;
- store file information representing the particular version of the file, wherein the file information includes information referencing each of the one or more regions that have not changed and information referencing each of the one or more data segments that have changed;
- and
- update respective reference information for each of the one or more regions that have not changed to indicate that the one or more regions are referenced by the file information.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.