Data structures and methods for imaging computer readable media

Abstract

Data structures and methods for imaging computer readable media are provided. A data structure used to recreate computer readable media is provided having a type identifier used to identify a type of image data originally imaged. Further, a length data identifies the size of a data stream which is a portion of a file associated with the image data, wherein the data stream combined with additional data streams are operable to form a complete file. Moreover, a method of collecting image data is provided wherein control data is associated with a file residing in the image data, the control data includes a partition type, compression type, file length, and one or more file set types. Furthermore, the control data are organized on a computer readable medium, along with the file. Also, a method of customizing the creation of an image on a computer readable medium is provided wherein zero or more exclude files in an image source are identified and are not included in a created image target. The created image target includes one or more files which are identified as files to retain from the image source.

What is claimed:  
     
         1 . A data structure used to recreate computer readable media, comprising: 
 a type identifier used to identify a type of image data originally imaged; and    a length data used to identify the size of a data stream which is at least a portion of a file which is associated with the image data, wherein zero or more additional data streams are operable to be assembled to form the complete file.    
     
     
         2 . The data structure of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 an image header identifying a number of partitions on the image data.    
     
     
         3 . The data structure of  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 one or more partition headers each identified by a unique index number;    
     
     
         4 . The data structure of  claim 3 , further comprising: 
 a file header having a specific unique index number identifying a specific partition header; and    one or more file set identifiers identifying one or more file associations.    
     
     
         5 . The data structure of  claim 1 , wherein the data structure is stored in a binary format.  
     
     
         6 . The data structure of  claim 5 , wherein the data structure is stored as extensible markup language, unicode international format, or universal disk format.  
     
     
         7 . The data structure of  claim 1 , wherein the type identifier is associated with a data link, compressed data, or uncompressed data.  
     
     
         8 . The data structure of  claim 1 , wherein the data stream originated from at least one of the following environments NetWare, NTFS, EXT2, FAT, and BeOs.  
     
     
         9 . A method of collecting image data, comprising the executable instructions of: 
 receiving control data associated with a file wherein the file is included in image data, and the control data includes a partition type, compression type, file length, and one or more file set types; and    organizing the control data on a computer readable medium, along with the file.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the control data and the file are stored in a universal format on the computer readable medium.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the control data and the file are received from a hard drive of a computing device.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising: 
 restoring the file to a second computer readable medium using the control data.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the second computer readable medium has a second partition type different from the partition type.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the file set types include at least one of include sets, delete sets, and work group sets.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein control data and the file may be disregarded by a user during a restore operation if the file is identified by the user as being unnecessary.  
     
     
         16 . A method of customizing the creation of an image on computer readable medium, comprising the executable instructions of: 
 identifying zero or more exclude files in an image source as files not to include in a created image target; and    identifying one or more include files in an image source which are included in the image target.    
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising: 
 identifying a first partition type of the image source and permitting a second partition type different from the first partition type to exist on the image target.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising: 
 receiving one or more set types associated with one or more of the include files.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 creating one or more customized image targets based on one or more of the set types from the image target.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein one or more of the customized targets are created on one or more computer readable media used by one or more computing devices.