Patent ID: 8645496

Claim:
In a system that includes one or more clients in communication with a server that stores a backup copy of the data from the one or more clients, a method for backing up data of a client, the method comprising: enumerating, by a processor, writers that are associated with one or more applications that are active on a client, the writers controlling whether the one or more applications suspend operation or resume operation; placing the writers in backup groupings; designating at least some of the backup groupings for backup; receiving metadata from each writer that is active on the client in the designated backup groupings, wherein the metadata of a particular writer identifies specific data to be backed up for the particular writer; requesting a snapshot of the client for the designated backup groupings; causing the writers in the designated backup groupings to suspend operation of each corresponding application while executing the snapshot; generating a shadow copy set for each backup grouping, wherein each shadow copy set identifies at least one volume to be included in the snapshot of the client; causing the writers to resume operation of each application after the snapshot is executed; and backing up the specific data of the backup groupings of the client identified in the metadata received from each writer from the snapshot executed on the client, wherein data for at least all active writers in the designated backup groupings are backed up.