Granular Data Recovery via Hard and Virtual Linking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data recovery technologies face challenges in managing disk space due to the growing size of backups and the requirement for multiple backup files to be stored in a single location, leading to inefficiencies in recovery processes, especially when using incremental backup strategies.
Innovation Solution
The techniques involve determining a recovery location, hard linking or virtually linking backup data to that location, and performing recovery using processor-readable instructions to optimize data retrieval from local and remote storage, allowing for granular recovery of data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If incremental backup strategies are used with separate files or logs stored on separate disks, then storage space efficiency is improved, but recovery complexity and time increase due to requiring full backup sets and managing multiple backup files across multiple locations
Solution Approach 1:
The backup data is segmented into multiple incremental backup files stored across separate disks or volumes. The recovery process segments the recovery operation by identifying and processing only the specific incremental backup files needed for the recovery point, rather than requiring the entire backup set. This allows efficient recovery from distributed backup segments without needing to assemble all backup files from multiple locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a storage manager as an intermediary component that coordinates the recovery process. The storage manager maintains metadata about the locations of incremental backup files across multiple storage devices and manages the recovery operation by virtually assembling the necessary backup files into a temporary recovery location, eliminating the need for manual coordination of multiple separate backup files.
2Ease of operation
If multiple backup files are required to be stored on a single volume for recovery, then recovery process is simplified, but storage space management becomes increasingly challenging due to growing backup sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from a single-volume storage model to a multi-volume or distributed storage model. Backup files are stored across multiple volumes or disks, utilizing the dimensional expansion of storage architecture. The recovery process manages this distributed structure by virtually assembling backup files from different volumes into a temporary recovery location, maintaining simplicity while enabling better storage space management.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage manager performs preliminary actions by pre-mapping the locations of incremental backup files across multiple volumes and pre-assembling them into a virtual recovery structure. This preliminary organization eliminates the need for runtime coordination of multiple backup files during recovery, maintaining operational simplicity while supporting distributed storage.
3Ease of operation
If backup files are copied or moved to a single location for recovery, then recovery can proceed, but extra time is added to the recovery process due to large file sizes
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of physically copying large backup files to a single location, the system creates virtual copies or references to the backup files in their original distributed locations. The storage manager maintains virtual pointers or metadata that allow the recovery process to access backup files from their original locations without physical data movement, eliminating time-consuming file copies while maintaining recovery capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage manager acts as an intermediary that provides virtual access to distributed backup files during recovery. Rather than requiring physical copying, the storage manager manages virtual references to the backup files across multiple volumes, allowing the recovery process to read from the original locations directly, thereby eliminating the time penalty of large file copies.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for granular recovery of data from local and remote storage are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for recovery of data from local and remote storage comprising determining a recovery location, determining a location of backup data, hard linking one or more portions of the backup data to the recovery location in the event that the one or more portions of the backup data to be hard linked are determined to be on a volume of the recovery location, virtually linking one or more portions of the backup data to the recovery location in the event that the one or more portions of the backup data to be virtually linked are determined to be on a volume different from the volume of the recovery location, and performing recovery utilizing one or more portions of recovery data.