Patent ID: 9646020
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. In a distributed or cloud computing environment, a method for a computing system uploading storage data from a local virtual hard disk to a remote cloud stored blob, the method comprising: the computing system determining a file protocol for a local virtual hard disk file including determining sparseness for the local file, the determined sparseness identifying one or more data blocks having null data, the computing system including at least one processor; the computing system, based on the sparseness for the local virtual hard disk file, creating an optimized local virtual hard disk file that includes data blocks having data and that omits data blocks having null data and such that the optimized local virtual hard disk file contains fewer data blocks than the local virtual hard disk file, the optimized virtual hard disk file also including or being used with a block allocation table to identify the data blocks having the null data; and uploading the optimized local virtual hard disk file to a remote service, while preserving sparseness by refraining from uploading the one or more data blocks having the null data that were omitted from the optimized local virtual hard disk file, wherein the optimized local virtual hard disk file is subsequently used to create a remote cloud stored blob that replicates the local virtual hard disk file with corresponding sparseness and one or more data blocks having null data and such that the remote cloud stored blob includes a same number of data blocks as the virtual hard disk file but more data blocks than the optimized local virtual hard disk file.