Patent ID: 8433867

Claim:
An apparatus to use the change-recording feature associated with point-in-time-copy technology to perform more effective backups, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; at least one memory device operably coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions for execution on the at least one processor, wherein the instructions are configured to: generate, by a point-in-time-copy application, an initial point-in-time copy of source data residing in a storage device; perform, by a backup application, an initial backup of the initial point-in-time copy; record, by the point-in-time-copy application using a change-recording feature of the point-in-time-copy application, incremental change data documenting changes made to the source data after the initial point-in-time copy is generated; update, by the point-in-time-copy application, the initial point-in-time copy in accordance with the incremental change data to generate an updated point-in-time copy; query, by the backup application, the incremental change data to determine which changes were made to the initial point-in-time copy to generate the updated point-in-time copy; and perform, by the backup application, an incremental backup of the updated point-in-time copy by backing up the changes designated in the incremental change data.