Patent ID: 7440965
Filing Date: 2008-10-21
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: generating an offset map to indicate an exact location of each file in a backup image, before any file data has been written to the backup image; storing the offset map to the backup image on a storage device before storing the file data to the backup image; subsequent to writing the offset map to the backup image, writing the files to the backup image; prior to generating the offset map, receiving a request to generate the backup image, the request indicating a backup path to be included in the backup image; generating a list of files to be included in the backup image based on the backup path indicated in the request; and writing the list of files to be included in the backup image to the backup image, wherein said generating an offset map to indicate the exact location of each file in a backup image includes calculating an amount of space required in the backup image for each file included in the list of files to be included in the backup image, and wherein said calculating the space required in the backup image for each file included in the list of files to be included in the backup image includes compensating for any headers to be written as part of the backup image for the file.