Patent ID: 11940956
Assignee: HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT LP
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 15:
16. A method of a computing device, the method comprising:
with at least one processing resource of a computing device, storing chunks of data in at least one container of a deduplication store, the container stored in persistent storage of the computing device;
storing in at least one container index:
chunk signatures and chunk location data for each of the chunks; and
for each chunk signature, at least one persistent item tag each corresponding to the chunk signature and identifying a respective backup item of the deduplication store that references or formerly referenced the corresponding chunk signature, wherein each persistent item tag is to remain with the corresponding chunk signature until the corresponding chunk signature is removed from the at least one container index;

in response to a request to erase a given backup item of the backup items, erasing each chunk and chunk signature referenced exclusively by the given backup item;
after erasing chunks and chunk signatures of one or more other backup items of the backup items, determining, based on the persistent item tags in the at least one container index, that all chunks formerly referenced by the given backup item have been erased; and
in response to the determination, outputting an indication that the given backup item has been erased.