Patent ID: 8234317

Claim:
A storage system for storing a plurality of files and auto-committing one or more files to immutable status, the storage system comprising: a storage operating system configured for: receiving a plurality of write requests, each write request comprising a requested modification of a file of the storage system; for each received write request, generating a change log entry for a file representing the write request for the file, the change log entry having an associated timestamp relating to when the file is modified, wherein a first change log entry having a first timestamp is generated for a first write request for a first file and a second change log entry having a second timestamp is generated for a second write request for a second file; storing each change log entry in a change log, wherein the first and second change log entries are stored to the change log; processing the change log entries in the change log for determining whether to commit a plurality of different files to immutable status beginning from the oldest change log entry having the oldest timestamp to the newest change log entry having the newest timestamp for determining if any files have met an auto-commit requirement, wherein a file meets the auto-commit requirement when the file has not been modified for the duration of a predetermined auto-commit time period, wherein the first file is determined to meet the auto-commit requirement based on the first timestamp in the first change log entry and the second file is determined to meet the auto-commit requirement based on the second timestamp in the second change log entry; and committing any files that have met the auto-commit requirement to immutable status, wherein the first file and the second file are committed to immutable status.