The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 17, 2011
Filed:
Oct. 10, 2007
Edward W. Hardy, Seattle, WA (US);
Edward W. Hardy, Seattle, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Described is a technology by which storage space in the form of allocation units (e.g., clusters of a storage volume) are intentionally allocated so as to likely be non-contiguous for a file's data. For example, random selection of each of the allocation units will likely provide non-contiguous allocation units; on solid state storage media, such a random distribution of a file's data does not significantly affect access times. In one aspect, a file system driver randomly allocates the allocation units, and records the allocation units in association with the file, e.g., in a master file table or similar database. Non-contiguous (e.g., random) allocation may be on demand as storage space is needed, and/or may be performed in anticipation of needing storage space for satisfying a later request. Once the storage space is no longer mapped to a file, reconstructing that file's data in forensic analysis is more difficult.