Patent ID: 7962528

Claim:
A method for maintaining a database of metadata, comprising: generating a first persistent consistency point at a first time; generating a second persistent consistency point at a second time; performing, by a processor of a data storage system, a differencing process to identify differences in inode files of the first persistent consistency point and the second persistent consistency point by comparing pointers of indirect blocks of the first persistent consistency point with pointers of indirect blocks of the second persistent consistency point to identify a changed set of metadata between the first time and the second time, wherein the differencing process comprises: selecting a first indirect block of the first persistent consistency point and determining if a corresponding indirect block is located at a same position in the second persistent consistency point; and in response to determining that the corresponding indirect block is located at the same position in the second persistent consistency point, comparing pointers associated with the first indirect block of the first persistent consistency point and pointers associated with the corresponding indirect block of the second persistent consistency point to obtain the set of changed metadata; and updating the database of metadata using the changed set of metadata.