Patent ID: 8812446

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for block level backup, comprising: while performing file enumeration on a mounted image created from a full image that exposes a block level representation of a file system for files for access by an operating system of a production server, marking blocks for the read operations that reference meta-data blocks as meta-data blocks, wherein the blocks that are not marked as the meta-data blocks are data blocks; in response to the file enumeration completing, migrating the data blocks to sequential storage, while leaving the meta-data blocks on random access storage, wherein the data blocks form a backup image; and in response to receiving a request to restore a file from the backup image for the production server, retrieving relevant meta-data blocks from the random access storage that indicate where the data blocks for the file are stored in the sequential storage; creating a new, mounted image from the relevant meta-data blocks that exposes a block level representation of the file system for access by the operating system; performing non-data related operations against the new, mounted image; and restoring the file by reading the data blocks for that file from the sequential storage to production storage at the production server.