Patent ID: 8627025

Claim:
A method implemented at least in part by a computer, the computer comprising a cache storage, a primary storage device, the computer further comprising a network interface providing intermittent connectivity via a network to a backup storage device on the network, the method comprising: performing a single backup cycle to backup the primary storage device, the single backup cycle comprising: identifying target files on the primary storage device that have changed and need to be backed up; monitoring for availability of the backup storage device via the network to detect when the backup storage device becomes available and to detect when the backup storage device becomes unavailable; when copying a first portion of the target files from the primary storage device to the backup storage device and the monitoring indicates that the backup storage device has become unavailable, copying the first portion of the target files to a cache on the primary storage device and updating status information indicating that the first portion of the target files are in the process of being backed up; when about to copy a second portion of the target files from the primary storage device to the cache the monitoring indicates that the backup storage device has become available: beginning copying the first portion of the target files from the cache to the backup storage, beginning copying of the second portion of the target files from the primary storage device to the backup storage device, and as the target files in the first portion of the target files are copied from the cache storage to the backup storage device updating the status information to indicate that such files have been backed up.