Claims
- 1. A method of performing an instant copy of data, comprising:
receiving a write operation to a data location in one of an initial physical storage area and an additional physical storage area; performing an instant copy operation on the data location; and writing new data to the data location in accordance with the write operation, wherein the instant copy operation includes generating a pointer to one of the new data and original data in the data location.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data location is in the initial physical storage area, and wherein the instant copy operation includes copying a portion of original data from the data location in the initial physical storage area to a second data location in the additional physical storage area in response to receiving the write operation.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pointer points to the portion of original data copied to the additional physical storage area.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data location is in the additional physical storage area.
- 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the instant copy operation includes not copying a portion of original data from the initial physical storage area to the additional physical storage area.
- 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the pointer points to new data written to the data location in the additional physical storage area.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial physical storage area is a variable dynamically changeable mapping scheme storage area.
- 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the portion of original data has a size that is different with respect to other portions of data in the initial physical storage area.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pointer is generated in a pointer table of meta-data associated with the additional physical storage area.
- 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the pointer and an associated size of the portion of original data in a meta-data data structure.
- 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the pointer is stored in a pointer table of meta-data having a plurality of pointers, and wherein the plurality of pointers include a pair of pointers representing a range of pointers that point to portions of original data that have not been changed by a write operation.
- 12. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for performing an instant copy of data, comprising:
first instructions for receiving a write operation to a data location in one of an initial physical storage area and an additional physical storage area; second instructions for performing an instant copy operation on the data location; and third instructions for writing new data to the data location in accordance with the write operation, wherein the instant copy operation includes generating a pointer to one of the new data and original data in the data location.
- 13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the data location is in the initial physical storage area, and wherein the second instructions for performing an instant copy operation include instructions for copying a portion of original data from the data location in the initial physical storage area to a second data location in the additional physical storage area in response to receiving the write operation.
- 14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the pointer points to the portion of original data copied to the additional physical storage area.
- 15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the data location is in the additional physical storage area.
- 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the second instructions for performing the instant copy operation include instructions for not copying a portion of original data from the initial physical storage area to the additional physical storage area.
- 17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the pointer points to new data written to the data location in the additional physical storage area.
- 18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the initial physical storage area is a variable dynamically changeable mapping scheme storage area.
- 19. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the portion of original data has a size that is different with respect to other portions of data in the initial physical storage area.
- 20. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the second instructions for performing the instant copy operation include instructions for generating the pointer in a pointer table of meta-data associated with the additional physical storage area.
- 21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the second instructions for performing the instant copy operation include instructions for storing the pointer and an associated size of the portion of original data in a meta-data data structure.
- 22. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the second instructions for performing the instant copy operation include instructions for storing the pointer in a pointer table of meta-data having a plurality of pointers, and wherein the plurality of pointers include a pair of pointers representing a range of pointers that point to portions of original data that have not been changed by a write operation.
- 23. An apparatus for performing an instant copy of data, comprising:
means for receiving a write operation to a data location in one of an initial physical storage area and an additional physical storage area; means for performing an instant copy operation on the data location; and means for writing new data to the data location in accordance with the write operation, wherein the instant copy operation includes generating a pointer to one of the new data and original data in the data location.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing date of corresponding U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/212,260, entitled MULTI-LAYER MAPPING TABLES, filed Jun. 20, 2000. In addition, the present invention is related to applications entitled A SYSTEM TO SUPPORT DYNAMICALLY FLEXIBLE DATA DEFINITIONS AND STORAGE REQUIREMENTS, Ser. No. 09/751,635, Attorney Docket Number 00-059-DSK, filed on Dec. 29, 2000; USING CURRENT RECOVERY MECHANISMS TO IMPLEMENT DYNAMIC MAPPING OPERATIONS, Ser. No. 09/800,714, Attorney Docket Number 00-061-DSK, filed on Mar. 8, 2001; RECOVERY OF DYNAMIC MAPS AND DATA MANAGED THEREBY, Ser. No. 09/752,253, Attorney Docket Number 00-063-DSK, filed on Dec. 30, 2000; FLOATING VIRTUALIZATION LAYERS, Ser. No. 09/752,071, Attorney Docket Number 00-116-DSK, filed on Dec. 29, 2000; SELF DEFINING DATA UNITS, Ser. No. 09/751,641, Attorney Docket Number 00-117-DSK, filed on Dec. 29, 2000; DYNAMICALLY CHANGEABLE VIRTUAL MAPPING SCHEME, Ser. No. 09/751,772, Attorney Docket Number 00-062-DSK, filed on Dec. 29, 2000; APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY CHANGEABLE VIRTUAL MAPPING SCHEME, Ser. No. ______, Attorney Docket Number 00-060-DSK and APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSTANT COPY OF DATA IN A DYNAMICALLY CHANGEABLE VIRTUAL MAPPING ENVIRONMENT, Ser. No. ______ , Attorney Docket Number 2001-006-DSK, both of which are filed on even date hereof. All of the above related applications are assigned to the same assignee, and are incorporated herein by referenced.