Patent ID: 7809691

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying an incremental change to information stored on a primary device, wherein the incremental change is identified subsequent to a first point in time; applying the incremental change to a first target device, wherein the incremental change is applied to the first target device prior to completing initialization of a second target device, the initialization of the second target device initializes the second target device as a point-in-time copy of the primary device, the point-in-time copy of the primary device is a copy of the primary device at the first point in time, and the applying the incremental change to the first target device restores the first target device from an incremental backup of the primary device by virtue of the applying the incremental change to the first target device comprising replicating the incremental change to the first target device; restoring the primary device from a full backup of the primary device, wherein the restoring the primary device from the full backup initializes the first target device as the point-in-time copy of the primary device, and the first target device is a replica device; and restoring the second target device from a full backup of the primary device, wherein the restoring the second target device from a full backup of the primary device initializes the second target device as the point-in-time copy of the primary device.