Patent ID: 8027958

Claim:
A method for generating a point-in-time restoration of a computer data storage system, comprising: writing incoming data commands to a log file of a plurality of log files of the computer data storage system, and writing the contents of the log files to an active file system of the computer data storage system by a lazy write process, the lazy write process executed by an operating system of the computer data storage system; generating a plurality of backups, each backup generated at a selected time of a plurality of times, each backup having a snapshot of the active file system at the selected time and a copy of the log file holding commands which have not been processed into the active file system at the selected time by the lazy write process, each snapshot having a copy of a root inode of the active file system at the selected time, the snapshot stored on a data storage device of the computer data storage system; selecting a first backup of the plurality of backups for performing a restoration from a first time of the plurality of times, the first backup having a first snapshot taken at the first time and a first log file of the plurality of log files copied at the first time; verifying the selected backup by determining that all files within the first backup are valid and not corrupted; copying, in response to the first backup being successfully verified, the first snapshot to the active file system, and copying the first log file to the active file system; and copying the log files of the plurality of log files created later in time than the first time to the active file system, wherein the first snapshot enables restoration of the active file system to the first time and the log files created later in time than the first time enable restoration of files referenced by commands written into the log files after the first time.