Patent ID: 7873681
Filing Date: 2011-01-18
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method in connection with a computing device having a storage volume, a file system managing the storage volume, and a plurality of files stored on the storage volume by the file system and accessed by such file system, each of the plurality of files being defined to include data and metadata relating to the data, at least a portion of the data of each of at least some of the plurality of files having been removed from the file and stored at an alternate location such that the data does not occupy substantially any space on the volume and the file is in a reduced, ghosted form, each of at least some of the ghosted files having been fully or partially reconstituted for use by retrieving the data thereof from the alternate location and associating such retrieved data with such ghosted file to form the reconstituted file, the method for re-ghosting each of at least some of the fully and partially reconstituted files and never-ghosted files and comprising: receiving a trigger based on a triggering event; selecting files from among the fully and partially reconstituted files and never-ghosted files based on first predetermined selection criteria to obtain a set of candidate files, wherein each of the first predetermined selection criteria pertains to a corresponding characteristic of the files; and re-ghosting one of one or more subsets of the candidate files chosen based on at least one criterion pertaining to a same characteristic of the files as a corresponding characteristic of a corresponding one of the first predetermined selection criteria.