Patent ID: 8874520

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a data object, wherein the data object comprises a set of data segments, and the data object describes a backup process; sending a request to a deduplication server, wherein the request is a request for the deduplication server to add a task identifier to a copy of the data object stored at the deduplication server, the request comprises a reference to the data object, and addition of the task identifier to the copy of the data object protects the copy of the data object and a copy of the set of data segments stored at the deduplication server from being deleted from the deduplication server during the backup process; and in response to a determination that the deduplication server has successfully added the task identifier to the copy of the data object stored at the deduplication server, adding an active identifier to each data segment in the set of data segments stored in a cache, wherein the cache is at a client system, and addition of the active identifier to the each data segment indicates that a corresponding copy of the each data segment stored at the deduplication sever will be maintained at the deduplication server during the backup process.