Backup copy achieving improved efficiency by waiting until rewind/unload command for bulk data copy
US6477628B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 28, 2000 |
| Grant date | Nov 5, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 28, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/1456
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A particularly efficient storage system makes redundant copies of data on tape by waiting until a rewind/unload command is received and then copying stored data objects en masse, thereby benefitting from any data compression used to store the objects along with the lower overhead for the copy operation. This copy operation is more efficient than the data objects' original storage, because there is less overhead in copying the data objects en masse; also, there is less data to copy if the data objects were stored with any data compression. Efficiency may be further increased by dividing the task of originally writing the data objects between paired tape drives, and then exchanging data objects between the tape drives upon issuance of the rewind/unload command.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.