Backup and restoration of computer information

Abstract

Backup and restoration of computer information. In one example embodiment, a method includes modifying a volume boot record of a restore volume to a first state in which at least a portion of the restore volume becomes inaccessible to a standard file system, writing restore data to the inaccessible portion of the restore volume while the volume boot record is in the first state, and restoring the volume boot record to a second state in which the inaccessible portion of the restore volume becomes accessible to the standard file system.

1 . A method, comprising:
 modifying a volume boot record of a restore volume to a first state in which at least a portion of the restore volume becomes inaccessible to a standard file system;   writing restore data to the inaccessible portion of the restore volume while the volume boot record is in the first state; and   restoring the volume boot record to a second state in which the inaccessible portion of the restore volume becomes accessible to the standard file system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 creating the restore data to include:
 a base backup file representing a full backup of a source volume; and 
 at least one incremental backup file; 
   wherein at least a portion of the at least one incremental backup file is created after the writing the restore data to the inaccessible portion of the restore volume.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modifying the volume boot record of the restore volume to the first state comprises inserting a restore structure in at least a portion of the volume boot record, wherein the restore structure is used by a restore process and causes the restore volume to become inaccessible to the standard file system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the inserting the restore structure comprises modifying a signature portion of the volume boot record. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the inserting the restore structure comprises modifying the volume boot record to represent a file structure with a capacity less than an actual capacity of the restore volume. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 including data indicating a restore state of the restore process in the restore structure; and   periodically updating the restore state to indicate a current restore state.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the writing restore data to the inaccessible portion of the restore volume while the volume boot record is in the first state comprises writing restore data to at least one sector of the restore volume using block accesses while the restore volume is inaccessible to the standard file system. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the restoring the volume boot record to the second state comprises restoring at least a portion of the volume boot record to a state indicating that the restore volume is valid using the block accesses. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the using the block accesses comprises using private block accesses, public block accesses, or some combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 preventing the inaccessible portion of the restore volume from undesired changes by supplying a block device filter to prevent public block accesses to the restore volume and allow private block accesses to the restore volume; and   writing restore data to at least one sector of the restore volume using the private block accesses while the public block accesses are being prevented.   
     
     
         11 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions, which when executed on one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to:
 modify a volume boot record of a restore volume to a first state in which at least a portion of the restore volume becomes inaccessible to a standard file system;   write restore data to the inaccessible portion of the restore volume while the volume boot record is in the first state; and   restore the volume boot record to a second state in which the inaccessible portion of the restore volume becomes accessible to the standard file system.   
     
     
         12 . A method of backing up and restoring computer information, comprising:
 at a first computing system:
 creating a backup set of files by:
 creating a base backup file representing a full backup of a source volume by copying sectors of the source volume to the base backup file; and 
 creating one or more incremental backup files including a final incremental backup file, each incremental backup file created by copying modified sectors of the source volume that have changed state since a preceding backup, the preceding backup being the full backup or a preceding incremental backup; 
 
   at a second computing system using a block access process for:
 modifying a volume boot record of a restore volume to prevent a standard file system from recognizing the restore volume as having a valid file system; 
 copying a portion of the backup set of files to the restore volume after the modifying the volume boot record and before finalizing the creation of the final incremental backup file; 
 copying the final incremental backup file to the restore volume after all other backup files of the backup set of files have been copied to the restore volume; and 
 finalizing the restore volume by restoring the volume boot record to a state indicating that the restore volume has a valid file system. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the finalizing the creation of the final incremental backup is performed after the base backup file of the backup set up files has been the copied to the restore volume. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the finalizing the creation of the final incremental backup is performed after all other backup files of the backup set up files have been the copied to the restore volume. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the modifying the volume boot record of the restore volume comprises zeroing a portion of a sector  0 . 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the modifying the volume boot record of the restore volume further comprises including metadata indicating a restore state of the method of backing up and restoring computer information. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising communicating the backup set of files from the first computing system to the second computing system. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein a private block access process is performed on the restore volume while the standard file system is operating on other volumes not including the restore volume. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the first computing system and the second computing system are the same system. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions, which when executed on one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to:
 at a first computing system:
 creating a backup set of files by:
 creating a base backup file representing a full backup of a source volume by copying sectors of the source volume to the base backup file; and 
 creating one or more incremental backup files including a final incremental backup file, each incremental backup file created by copying modified sectors of the source volume that have changed state since a preceding backup, the preceding backup being the full backup or a preceding incremental backup; 
 
   at a second computing system using a block access process for:
 modifying a volume boot record of a restore volume to prevent a standard file system from recognizing the restore volume as having a valid file system; 
 copying a portion of the backup set of files to the restore volume after the modifying the volume boot record and before finalizing the creation of the final incremental backup file; 
 copying the final incremental backup file to the restore volume after all other backup files of the backup set of files have been copied to the restore volume; and 
 finalizing the restore volume by restoring the volume boot record to a state indicating that the restore volume has a valid file system.