Patent ID: 8126851

Claim:
A data shadowing system, connected to a monitored computer system, for the automatic backup storage of data into the data shadowing system that is written in the memory of the monitored computer system and the selective retrieval of this data from the data shadowing system for restoration to said memory of said monitored computer system, said data shadowing system comprising: data shadow copy module, connected to a monitored computer system, for storing a shadow copy of the data which is written in the memory of the monitored computer system; customer data file manager, resident in said monitored computer system, for autonomously transmitting customer data files resident on said monitored computer system, to said data shadow copy module, comprising: customer data file map generator for autonomously mapping file directory structures associated with each of customer data files written in the memory of the monitored computer system into file tree information which comprises: original names of each customer data file as stored on said monitored computer system, a physical location of each customer data file as stored on said monitored computer system, and a corresponding physical location in said data shadow copy module which stores a copy of these customer data files to enable both memory-level and file-level restoration of customer data files on the memory of the monitored computer system to restore the physical disk image of the memory of the monitored computer system, change journal for automatically tracking changes to said customer data files, including: customer data file creation, customer data file movement, customer data file content changes, and customer data file renaming, file history, responsive to a modification of a customer data file, for generating a set of file change data indicative of a difference between said customer data file and said modified customer data file, and mapping database for storing said file tree information in said data shadow copy module; wherein said data shadow copy module comprises: customer data file storage for storing each of said customer data files in said data shadow copy module and, for modified customer data files, for storing said set of file change data and substituting said modified customer data file for said customer data file in said memory module; and customer data file restoration process, responsive to a user requesting restoration of at least one customer data file, for retrieving said file tree information and autonomously writing said requested customer data file to said physical memory location of said monitored computer system where said customer data file was originally stored on said monitored computer system.