Patent ID: 7111014

Claim:
A method for restoring a snapshot, wherein a plurality of snapshots are available, comprising: receiving a request to restore a desired snapshot; determining, for each inode in the desired snapshot, whether a corresponding inode in a file system is allocated to a file or directory that is part of the desired snapshot; restoring, in response to determining that the corresponding inode in the file system is allocated to a file or directory that is part of the desired snapshot, the inode in the desired snapshot to the corresponding inode in the file system; restoring, in response to determining that the corresponding inode in the file system is not allocated to a file or directory that is not part of the desired snapshot, the inode in the desired snapshot to an unallocated inode in the file system; and updating and providing a directory entry for the corresponding inode in the file system to reference the previously unallocated inode.