Patent ID: 7680996
Filing Date: 2010-03-16
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for shrinking a set of data, comprising: providing a writable volume presented in a computer and used for storing data; providing a differential snapshot of one or more blocks of said volume, said differential snap shot comprising: providing an input structure specifying a second set of blocks of said volume to be removed from a set of data included in said snapshot; providing to said computer a set of instructions, said computer operable to execute said instructions to perform: removing references to said second set of blocks from said watch-list, adding locations referenced by said associations stored in said retention-list which include references to blocks specified by said input structure into said space allocation list: removing associations stored in said retention-list which include references to blocks specified by said input structure from said retention-list; releasing retained data from said retention container; and whereby the number of unchanged blocks included into said snapshot is shrunk.