Patent ID: 7856423

Claim:
A computer method for generating persistent consistency point images (PCPIs), comprising: obtaining a first set of statistics for a plurality of data containers associated with a storage space; generating the PCPIs for each of the plurality of data containers associated with the storage space after the first set of statistics are obtained; obtaining a second set of statistics for the plurality of data containers after the PCPIs are generated; determining that modifying operations were performed to at least one data container of the plurality of data containers when generating the PCPIs if the first and the second set of statistics are not equal; determining that no modifying operations were performed to the at least one data container of the plurality of data containers when generating the PCPIs if the first and the second set of statistics are equal; and storing the PCPIs for each of the plurality of data containers on a storage device in response to determining that no modifying operations were performed to the at least one data container of the plurality of data containers when generating the PCPIs.