Patent ID: 8095827

Claim:
A method for replicating a volume of data stored on a source storage box, comprising: selecting a target storage box to receive a physical copy of the actual volume of data stored on the source storage box for replication of the actual volume of data; selecting a point in time storage box to receive a physical copy of actual data stored on the target storage box prior to the target storage box receiving the physical copy of the actual volume of data stored on the source storage box; physically copying actual data stored on the target storage box to the point in time storage box prior to the target storage box receiving the physical copy of the actual volume of data stored on the source storage box; performing the replication of the actual volume of data by initiating the physical copying on the target storage box of the actual volume of data stored on the source storage box after the actual data stored on the target storage box is physically copied to the point in time storage box; and selectively undoing the physical copying on the target storage box of the actual volume of data on the source storage box by replacing the current actual data stored on the target storage box with the physical copy of actual target storage box data stored on the point in time storage box after the actual volume of data stored on the source storage box is physically copied to the target storage box.