Patent ID: 7340489
Filing Date: 2008-03-04
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method of providing a point-in-time copy of stored data, comprising: providing a virtual storage area having a table of pointers that point to sections of the stored data and to sections of at least one other storage area, wherein the virtual storage area contains no sections of data; in response to a write of new data to a section of the stored data pointed to by a pointer of the table of the virtual storage area, copying the section of stored data to a section of the at least one other storage area prior to the write, causing a pointer of the virtual storage area to point to the section of the at least one other storage area, and writing the new data to the section of the stored data; in response to a request for accessing data of the virtual storage area, determining which particular one of the other storage areas contain the data; and accessing the data on the particular one of the other storage areas using the table of pointers.