Methods and apparatus for multi-phase restore

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to identify at least a first portion and a second portion of resources to restore to a device are described. The first portion of the resources may be restored atomically to the device before the second portion of the resources. The device may not respond to at least one user input during the restoration of the first portion of the resources. If the restoring of the first portion is successful, the second portion of the resources may be restored. The device may respond to the user input during the restoring of the second portion of the resources.

1 . A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions therein, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:
 identifying at least a first portion and a second portion of resources to restore back to a device;   restoring the first portion of the resources atomically to the device before the second portion of the resources, wherein the device does not respond to at least one user input during the restoration of the first portion of the resources; and   if the restoring of the first portion is successful, restoring the second portion of the resources, wherein the device responds to the user input during the restoring of the second portion of the resources.   
     
     
         2 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the restoring the first portion of the resources is atomic and wherein none of the first portion of the resources is restored if the restoring of the first portion of the resources fails. 
     
     
         3 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the resources include system files and settings to enable a working condition for the device without the second portion of the resources. 
     
     
         4 . The medium of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 booting the device into the working condition enabled by the first portion of the resources.   
     
     
         5 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the restoring the second portion of the resources is performed in a background without affecting at least a capability for a user to use the device. 
     
     
         6 . The medium of  claim 5 , wherein the capability includes sending a text message from the device. 
     
     
         7 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the restoring the second portion of the resources comprises:
 dynamically identifying backup sources available for the second portion of the resources;   determining an order among the second portion of the resources; and   selecting a next one of the second portion of the resources to restore from a corresponding one of the backup sources based on the order.   
     
     
         8 . The medium of  claim 7 , wherein the selection comprises:
 determining the order dynamically, wherein at least one of the second portion of the resources are being restored at the same time according to the order.   
     
     
         9 . The medium of  claim 7 , wherein the order is initially built during the restoring the first portion of the resources. 
     
     
         10 . The medium of  claim 7 , wherein the determination is based on required time to transfer the second portion of the resources including a first resource and a second resource, wherein the first resource is ranked higher in the order than the second resource if the first resource requires less time to transfer to the device than the second resource. 
     
     
         11 . The medium of  claim 10 , wherein the first resource is available from a first backup source, wherein the second resource is available from a second backup source and wherein the less time is indicated via a higher bandwidth for the first backup source than the second backup source. 
     
     
         12 . The medium of  claim 10 , wherein the first and second backup sources are dynamically identified during runtime for the restoring of the second portion of the resources. 
     
     
         13 . The medium of  claim 7 , wherein the second portion of the resources is associated with one or more applications for the device, and wherein the determination depends on usage of the applications. 
     
     
         14 . The medium of  claim 13 , wherein the usage includes statistics for using the applications, wherein the determining comprises:
 tracking the statistics for the applications, wherein the statistics indicate how recent the applications have been used, wherein the resources include a first resource and a second resource, wherein the applications include a first application and a second application separately associated with the first resource and the second resource, and wherein the first resource is ranked higher in the order than the second resource if the first application is more recently used than the second application.   
     
     
         15 . The medium of  claim 13 , wherein the usage includes user interface elements displayed for the applications, wherein the user interface elements are displayed on the device following a display order and wherein the order is determined according to the display order. 
     
     
         16 . The medium of  claim 7 , wherein the order is determined in response to a user input received, and wherein the order is specified via the user input. 
     
     
         17 . A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium having instructions therein, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:
 initiating a restore operation with a backup service for a device associated with an account maintained in the backup service;   identifying resources to transfer to the device with the backup service for the restore operation;   restoring a portion of the resources atomically to the device to enable the device to operate in a working condition of the account, wherein the device is non-responsive to user inputs before the portion of the resources are restored; and   restoring a remaining portion of the resources to the device to complete the restore operation, wherein the device remains in the working condition before the restore operation is completed.   
     
     
         18 . The medium of  claim 17 , wherein the remaining portion of the resources are not restored if the restoring the portion of the resources fails. 
     
     
         19 . The medium of  claim 17 , wherein the remaining portion of the resources are associated with a restore order to select a next one of the remaining portion of the resources to restore, and wherein the restore order is dynamically altered according to a heuristic weight assigned to each resource. 
     
     
         20 . The medium of  claim 19 , wherein the heuristic weight is associated with canonical information of the resource. 
     
     
         21 . The medium of  claim 19 , wherein the resource is associated with an application of the device and wherein the heuristic weight is associated with usage statistics of the application. 
     
     
         22 . The medium of  claim 17 , wherein one or more of the remaining list of resources are associated with an application having user interface elements, and wherein the user interface elements are displayed to indicate unavailability of the application to prevent the application from operating incorrectly before the one or more of the remaining list of resources are restored under the working condition of the device. 
     
     
         23 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 identifying at least a first portion of resources to restore back to a device;   restoring the first portion of the resources atomically to the device before the second portion of the resources, wherein the device does not respond to at least one user input during the restoration of the first portion of the resources; and   if the restoring of the first portion is successful, restoring the second portion of the resources, wherein the device responds to the user input during the restoring of the second portion of the resources.   
     
     
         24 . A computer implemented method comprising:
 initiating a restore operation with a backup service for a device associated with an account maintained in the backup service;   identifying resources to transfer to the device with the backup service for the restore operation;   restoring a portion of the resources atomically to the device to enable the device to operate in a working condition of the account, wherein the device is non-responsive to user inputs before the portion of the resources are restored; and   restoring a remaining portion of the resources to the device to complete the restore operation, wherein the device remains in the working condition before the restore operation is completed.   
     
     
         25 . A computer system comprising:
 a memory storing executable instructions;   a network interface coupled to one or more backup sources;   a user interface; and   a processor coupled to the memory, the network interface and the user interface to
 identify at least a first portion and a second portion of resources for the system, 
 restore the first portion of the resources atomically from the backup sources before the second portion of the resources, wherein the user interface does not respond to at least one user input during the restoration of the first portion of the resources, 
 restore, if the first portion is successfully restored, the second portion of the resources, wherein the user interface responds to the user input during the restoring of the second portion of the resources.