Patent · US Expired

Method and system for providing a static snapshot of data stored on a mass storage system

US5649152A · kind A · utility

253Cited by
148References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 13, 1994
Grant dateJul 15, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 13, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2201/84
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for providing a static snapshot, or image, of data stored on a mass storage system are disclosed. First, a preservation memory is cleared and a virtual device is created. Whenever a write is to be performed on the mass storage system, a check is made of the preservation memory to determine if it contains a block associated with the mass storage write address. If there is not, a copy of the block in the mass storage system at the block write address is placed in the preservation memory. Whenever a read is to be performed on the virtual device, a check is made of the preservation memory to determine if it contains a block associated with the virtual device read address. If there is such a block, that block is returned as the result of the virtual device read. Otherwise, the block at the virtual device block read address is returned as the result.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.