Storagecraft Technology Corporation

Scott Barnes

Nathan S Bushman

Maxim Shatskikh

Thomas Russell Shreeve

Scott Robison

Maxim S Shatskih

James Kirby

Headstart restore of a first volume to a second volume. In one example embodiment, a method for headstart restore of a first volume to a second volume may include invalidating, on disk, a boot segment of a volume boot record of the second volume, storing headstart restore information in the second volume, while the boot segment of the volume boot record of the second volume remains invalidated, writing data from one or more backups of the first volume to a data segment of the second volume, removing the headstart restore information from the second volume, and revalidating, on disk, the boot segment of the volume boot record of the second volume.

Headstart restore of first volume to a second volume

Creating hybrid image backups of a source storage. In one example embodiment, a method for creating one or more hybrid image backups of a source storage may include seeding a deduplication system by storing, in the deduplication system, blocks included in one or more files of one or more operating systems, blocks included in one or more files of one or more software applications, or both, and by storing a hash of each of the seeded blocks in a hash data structure; copying the hash data structure into a solid state drive (SSD); placing the SSD in a read-only state; comparing hashes of allocated blocks stored in the source storage at a first point in time to hashes in the hash data structure to determine whether each of the allocated blocks is in a first set of blocks that are stored in the deduplication system or in a second set of blocks that are not stored in the deduplication system; associating locations of the blocks in the first set of blocks stored in the source storage with locations of the corresponding blocks stored in the deduplication system; storing the blocks in the second set of blocks in an image backup separate from the deduplication system; associating locations of the blocks in the second set of blocks stored in the source storage with locations of the corresponding blocks stored in the image backup; and defining a full hybrid image backup of the source storage at the first point in time as a combination of the first set of blocks stored in the deduplication system and the second set of blocks stored in the image backup.

Hybrid image backup of a source storage

Cataloging file system-level changes to a source storage between image backups of the source storage. In one example embodiment, a method for cataloging file system-level changes to a source storage between image backups of the source storage may include obtaining first file system metadata (FSM) associated with a first image backup of the source storage that represents a first point in time, obtaining second FSM associated with a second image backup of the source storage that represents a second point in time, identifying a set of blocks that changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time, analyzing the set of blocks, the first FSM, and the second FSM, and cataloging files and/or directories that changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time based on the analyzing.

Cataloging file system-level changes to a source storage between image backups of the source storage

Creating hybrid image backups of a source storage. In one example embodiment, a method for creating one or more hybrid image backups of a source storage may include comparing hashes of allocated blocks stored in the source storage at a first point in time to hashes of blocks stored in a deduplication system to determine whether each of the allocated blocks is in a first set of blocks that are stored in the deduplication system or in a second set of blocks that are not stored in the deduplication system; associating locations of the blocks in the first set of blocks stored in the source storage with locations of the corresponding blocks stored in the deduplication system; determining whether the deduplication system is in a read-only state or in a writable state; and in response to the deduplication system being in the read-only state: storing the blocks in the second set of blocks in an image backup separate from the deduplication system; associating locations of the blocks in the second set of blocks stored in the source storage with locations of the corresponding blocks stored in the image backup; and defining a full hybrid image backup of the source storage at the first point in time as a combination of the first set of blocks stored in the deduplication system and the second set of blocks stored in the image backup.

Capturing post-snapshot quiescence writes in a linear image backup chain. In one example embodiment, a method for capturing post-snapshot quiescence writes in a linear image backup chain may include taking a first snapshot of a source storage at a first point in time, identifying a first set of block positions of blocks that are allocated in the source storage at the first point in time, identifying a second set of block positions of blocks that are written to the first snapshot during post-snapshot quiescence of the first snapshot, resulting in a first quiesced snapshot, copying the blocks in the first set of block positions from the first snapshot to a full image backup, and copying the blocks in the second set of block positions from the first quiesced snapshot to a first incremental image backup.

Capturing post-snapshot quiescence writes in a linear image backup chain

Restoration of a backup of a first volume to a second volume on physical media. In one example embodiment, a method for restoration of a backup of a first volume to a second volume on physical media includes accessing a volume boot record of the second volume while the volume boot record is in a valid state on the physical media, modifying the volume boot record to place the volume boot record into an invalid state on the physical media, writing data from the backup of the first volume to the inaccessible portion of the data segment of the second volume while the volume boot record is in the invalid state, and restoring the volume boot record to the valid state. In this example embodiment, the invalid state prevents a standard operating system from accessing at least a portion of the data segment of the second volume.

Restoration of a backup of a first volume to a second volume on physical media

The present invention comprises computing systems, computer readable media, and methods of protecting computing systems. Embodiments comprise defining a virtual volume, mounting the virtual volume, and processing write accesses. Processing write accesses comprises creating a virtual volume record in a virtual volume database associated with the write access and storing write data at a free location of a shadow cache. Embodiments may also include processing read accesses comprising comparing the read accesses to a virtual volume record to determine if a matching virtual volume record exists, reading data from the target volume if the matching virtual volume record is absent, and reading a data from the shadow cache if the matching virtual volume record is present. Embodiments may also comprise processing at least one virtual volume record upon the occurrence of an event of interest and includes copying a cache data segment from the shadow cache to the target volume.

Systems, methods, and computer readable media for computer data protection

Hash value comparison during crash-tolerant incremental change tracking between backups of a source storage. In one example embodiment, a method includes assigning each block in a source storage into one of multiple zones, creating a nonvolatile zone map, tracking each of the zones that is changed between a first point in time and a second point in time, identifying, as potentially changed zone blocks, the blocks in the source storage assigned to any zone marked as changed in the nonvolatile zone map, identifying, as potentially outdated backup blocks, the most recently backed-up blocks in one or more prior backups that correspond to the potentially changed zone blocks, calculating source hash values of the potentially changed zone blocks, calculating backup hash values of the potentially outdated backup blocks, and comparing the source hash values to the backup hash values to determine which blocks in the source storage actually changed.

Hash value comparison during crash-tolerant incremental change tracking between backups of a source storage

Pruning previously-allocated free blocks from a synthetic backup. In one example embodiment, a method of pruning previously-allocated free blocks from a synthetic backup includes identifying multiple sequential backups to be included in a synthetic backup, accessing a copy of a file system block allocation map (FSBAM) of the most recent of the multiple sequential backups that was stored with the most recent backup, identifying a set of blocks that includes the most recent block for each unique block position contained within the multiple sequential backups, pruning the set of blocks to exclude all blocks that are identified as being free in the FSBAM, storing the pruned set of blocks in the synthetic backup, and storing a copy of the FSBAM with the synthetic backup.

Pruning previously-allocated free blocks from a synthetic backup

Crash-tolerant incremental change tracking between backups of a source storage. In one example embodiment, a method of crash-tolerant incremental change tracking between backups of a source storage includes assigning each block in a source storage into one of multiple zones, with each of the zones including multiple of the blocks, creating, in a nonvolatile storage, a nonvolatile zone map that represents each of the zones, and tracking, in the nonvolatile zone map, each of the zones that is changed between a first point in time and a second point in time. Each of the zones is marked as changed in the nonvolatile zone map upon the first receipt of a request to write to any of the blocks of the zone and prior to execution of the write request.

Crash-tolerant incremental change tracking between backups of a source storage

A computer creates a full backup of a target volume by copying sectors of the target volume. Incremental backups are created by copying modified sectors that have changed since a preceding backup. Public accesses to a restore volume are prevented by modifying a volume boot record (VBR) of the restore volume to prevent file systems from recognizing the restore volume or by filtering public accesses while allowing private block accesses to the restore volume. Sector data are copied from the backup files to the restore volume while the public accesses are being prevented. The restore can begin, using previously created backup files, while the backup is still in process creating new incremental backups for the target volume. The restore volume is finalized after restoring the full or any number of incremental backups by restoring the VBR to indicate the restore volume is valid or stopping the filtering of public accesses.

Growing community of inventors

Pleasant Grove, UT, United States of America

Scott Barnes