Patent ID: 9563640
Date: 2017-02-07
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method, comprising: obtaining a base file at a first time, the base file is a complete copy of a data obtained as a checkpoint in time for the data and the base file is used for deriving subsequent versions of the data, wherein obtaining further includes dynamically acquiring the base file from a snapshot volume, wherein the base file is recorded within the snapshot volume during a snapshot operation taken at the first time of a primary volume, wherein the snapshot is of the primary volume and includes the data; capturing changes made to the base file at a second time as a delta, the delta reflects differences between the base file and the changes, the delta represented as information and instructions in a serialized format, the delta is a progression from a previous state of the base file to a newer version of the base file and the delta includes strings of data to insert or delete from the base file along with insertion or deletion commands to insert the strings or to delete the strings, and wherein the delta stores with each delete command a corresponding string of the data that was deleted without having to use an index for locating the data that was deleted; storing, the delta as the newer version of the base file in an archive storage, wherein the archive storage does not include a copy of the base file, and the base file is dynamically acquired when needed from the snapshot volume, and the base file is at least represented at any given point in time as three versions: a base file version stored as the complete copy of the data in the snapshot volume, a subsequent version derived from the base file version and stored as a subsequent delta in the archive storage, and a current version derived from the subsequent version and the base file version and the current version stored as a current delta in the archive storage, any particular version of the base file obtained by serially applying retained deltas as a progression to reach that particular version; and processing, by the archive storage, a particular delta for generating a particular new version of the base file without indexing, storing, retrieving, and processing from the archive storage entire copies of any specific files derived from the base file.