Patent ID: 8024383

Claim:
A computing device, comprising: a data storage device comprising a directory, the directory comprising at least two data clusters including a first data cluster having no transaction-safe data and at least one remaining data cluster comprising transaction-safe data; a first file allocation table that defines a placeholder cluster as a starting cluster in a sequence of data clusters for the directory, the placeholder cluster referencing a next data cluster in the sequence that comprises transaction-safe data; a second file allocation table, the second file allocation table comprising a copy of the first file allocation table; and one or more computer storage media including computer readable instructions that when executed perform operations comprising: modifying a third data cluster of the data storage device to contain modified transaction-safe data of the directory, modifying the second file allocation table to reference the third data cluster in the sequence of transaction-safe data while retaining the placeholder cluster in the second file allocation table as the starting cluster in the sequence of data clusters for the directory, and after modifying the second file allocation table and after the modifying the third data cluster, modifying a last known good indicator (LKG indicator) to indicate a last known good file allocation table.