Staged restore of a decremental backup chain

1. A method for staged restore of a decremental backup chain, the method comprising:

restoring a first backup of a source storage to a restore storage, the first backup representing allocated blocks from the source storage from a first point in time;

identifying a second backup of the source storage in a decremental backup chain of the source storage, the second backup being a decremental backup, the second backup also representing the allocated blocks from the source storage from the first point in time;

identifying a third backup of the source storage in the decremental backup chain of the source storage that is subsequent to the second backup and upon which the second backup depends, the third backup representing allocated blocks from the source storage from a second point in time;

identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were newly allocated in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time;

restoring the newly-allocated blocks to the restore storage;

identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time; and

restoring the changed blocks to the restore storage.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first backup is a backup in the decremental backup chain.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first backup is a decremental backup in the decremental backup chain.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first backup is a base backup in the decremental backup chain.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first backup is an incremental backup that is not in the decremental backup chain.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first backup is a base backup that is not in the decremental backup chain.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third backup is a decremental backup in the decremental backup chain.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third backup is a base backup in the decremental backup chain.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the blocks in the decremental backup chain that were newly allocated in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time includes:

comparing a file system block allocation map (FSBAM) associated with the third backup to an FSBAM associated with the second backup to identify positions of the newly-allocated blocks; and

searching forward in the decremental backup chain beginning with the third backup for the first block having the position of each of the newly-allocated blocks.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the blocks in the decremental backup chain that were newly allocated in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time includes:

accessing a list of newly-allocated blocks that is associated with the third backup and that was created during creation of the second backup by:

comparing an FSBAM corresponding to the first point in time to an FSBAM corresponding to the second point in time to identify positions of the newly-allocated blocks; or

identifying positions of blocks that are copied to a base backup, from which the second backup depends, in which positions no blocks previously existed in the base backup to identify positions of the newly-allocated blocks; and

searching forward in the decremental backup chain beginning with the third backup for the first block having the position of each of the newly-allocated blocks.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time includes:

identifying positions of blocks in the second backup to identify positions of the changed blocks; and

searching forward in the decremental backup chain beginning with the third backup for the first block having the position of each of the changed blocks.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time includes:

accessing a list of changed blocks that is associated with the third backup and that was created during creation of the second backup by:

identifying positions of blocks in the second backup to identify positions of the changed blocks; or

identifying positions of blocks that are copied to a base backup, from which the second backup depends, in which positions blocks previously existed in the base backup to identify positions of the changed blocks; and

searching forward in the decremental backup chain beginning with the third backup for the first block having the position of each of the changed blocks.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing one or more programs that are configured, when executed, to cause one or more processors to perform the method as recited in claim 1 .

14. A method for staged restore of a decremental backup chain, the method comprising:

restoring a first backup of a source storage to a restore storage, the first backup representing allocated blocks from the source storage from a first point in time;

identifying a second backup of the source storage in a decremental backup chain of the source storage, the second backup being a decremental backup, the second backup also representing the allocated blocks from the source storage from the first point in time;

identifying a third backup of the source storage in the decremental backup chain of the source storage that is subsequent to the second backup and upon which the second backup depends, the third backup representing allocated blocks from the source storage from a second point in time;

identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were newly allocated in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time using a file system block allocation map (FSBAM) associated with the second backup and an FSBAM associated with the third backup to identify positions of the newly-allocated blocks;

restoring the newly-allocated blocks to the restore storage;

identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time using positions of blocks in the second backup to identify positions of the changed blocks; and

restoring the changed blocks to the restore storage.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first backup is a base backup in the decremental backup chain that existed prior to the second point in time.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the identifying the blocks in the decremental backup chain that were newly allocated in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time includes:

comparing the FSBAM associated with the third backup to the FSBAM associated with the second backup to identify the positions of the newly-allocated blocks; and

searching forward in the decremental backup chain beginning with the third backup for the first block having the position of each of the newly-allocated blocks.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the restoring the newly-allocated blocks to the restore storage includes copying the newly-allocated blocks to the restore storage.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the identifying blocks in the decremental backup chain that were changed in the source storage between the first point in time and the second point in time includes searching forward in the decremental backup chain beginning with the third backup for the first block having the position of each of the changed blocks.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the restoring the changed blocks to the restore storage includes replacing blocks in the restore storage having the positions of the changed blocks with the corresponding changed blocks.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing one or more programs that are configured, when executed, to cause one or more processors to perform the method as recited in claim 14 .