Patent ID: 8010493

Claim:
A data storage system for providing intuitive access to previous versions of files or directories, the system comprising: at least one computer processor; at least one memory; a file system stored on the at least one memory, the file system comprising multiple data structures logically arranged hierarchically, each data structure comprising a file or directory, the multiple data structures including: a root data structure; a target data structure which is an ancestor of the root data structure; and a set of directory data structures which comprise an access path between the root data structure and the target data structure, wherein at least one directory in the set of directory data structures has one or more additional child data structures that are not part of the access path between the root data structure and the target data structure; and at least one executable software module executed by the at least one computer processor and configured to: generate a snapshot version of the target data structure; and generate a mini-snapshot version of the set of directory data structures, wherein the mini-snapshot version of the set of directory data structures provides an access path from the root data structure to the snapshot version of the target data structure, and wherein the mini-snapshot version of the set of directory data structures does not include access paths to the one or more additional child data structures.