Patent ID: 8868503

Claim:
A machine implemented method, comprising: generating a replicated copy of a storage volume; wherein the storage volume is managed by a storage operating system of a storage system; wherein the storage operating system interfaces with a back-up application executed by a processor of a server; and wherein the storage volume is replicated using a graphical user interface (GUI) provided by the back-up application; creating a clone of the replicated copy using the back-up application; displaying, via the GUI, properties of the clone including storage space used exclusively by the clone and storage space shared between the clone and the replicated copy; configuring a clone split operation using the back-up application for splitting the clone from the replicated copy by selecting, from a plurality of profile types, one profile type for a split clone that will be generated by the clone split operation; wherein the plurality of profile types includes a first profile type that allows a profile of the split clone to be deleted via the back-up application and a second profile type that does not allow the profile to be deleted via the back-up application; sending, from the back-up application to the storage operating system, a request to split the clone from the replicated copy; in response to the request, the storage operating system executing the split operation and assigning a new data block to the clone to replace a data block shared between the replicated copy and the clone; obtaining, by the back-up application a status on progress of the split operation from the storage operating system; displaying the status via the GUI; upon completion of the split operation, the back-up application generating a profile of the split clone with the assigned new data block that is not shared with the replicated copy; wherein the profile of the split clone is independent of any profile of the replicated copy and the profile of the split clone includes an indicator indicating whether the profile is of the first profile type or the second profile type; and when the profile type for the profile is the first profile type, providing an option to a user to automatically delete the profile of the split clone via the GUI; receiving a selection of the option via the GUI; and sending an instruction from the back-up application to the storage operating system to release any data blocks associated with the profile of the split clone such that the data blocks can be re-used by the storage operating system.