Patent ID: 7685177
Filing Date: 2010-03-23
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. In a distributed computing system having a primary storage device, a secondary storage device and a policy engine server, the policy engine server being configured to manage migration of files between the primary and secondary storage devices, a method for locating orphan files within the secondary storage device, the method comprising: identifying a secondary file on a secondary storage device, the secondary file including file identification data and an online reference that references a placeholder file on a primary storage device, wherein the secondary file comprises a data file that has been migrated from a primary storage device to the secondary storage device and wherein the data file has been deleted from the primary storage and replaced with the placeholder file; identifying the placeholder file on the primary storage device from the online reference, wherein the placeholder file includes an offline reference to the secondary file and is stored on the primary storage device to assist in locating the secondary file; determining that the secondary file is an orphan file if the offline reference does not validly reference the secondary file.