Patent · US Active

Using a sparse file as a clone of a file

US8195611B2 · kind B2 · utility

4Cited by

9References

14Claims

0Family size

Assignee

International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

Janet E. Adkins · Austin, US
Joon Chang · Austin, US
Manoj Kumar · Austin, US
Grover H. Neuman · Austin, US

Key dates

Filing date	Mar 31, 2009
Grant date	Jun 5, 2012
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Mar 6, 2030

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG06F16/128
WIPO fieldComputer technology
WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

One embodiment is for using a sparse file as a clone. The method includes creating, by an application associated with a computer system, a snapshot of a file, such as an individual file, a collection of files, file system, directories, and so forth. Further, the method includes requesting, by the application, a clone of that created snapshot. Further still, the method includes generating, by the application, an empty sparse having at least one inode identifying the empty sparse file as the clone and pointing to the snapshot associated with the clone. Thereby, the requested clone is created using the created sparse file, which begins as an empty sparse file.

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