Defensible pruning
Systems and methods for storage pruning can enable users to delete, edit, or copy backed up data that matches a pattern. Storage pruning can enable fine-grain deletion or copying of these files from backups stored in secondary storage devices. Systems and methods can also enable editing of metadata associated with backups so that when the backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view. A user may perform operations such as renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies on backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user's changes. A restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the backup data.
1. A networked data storage system for editing metadata associated with secondary copies of data, the system comprising:
a primary data store;
a secondary data store;
a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, the one or more computing devices comprising:
a client computing device comprising an application installed thereon configured to generate primary data in a native format associated with the application, wherein the client computing device is configured to store the primary data in the primary data store, and
a secondary storage computing device in networked communication with the client computing device, the secondary storage computing device comprising a media agent configured to interact with the secondary data store to copy at least a portion of primary data in the native format from the primary data store to the secondary data store to create secondary data stored in a non-human readable format; and
a stored index of the secondary data, the index comprising metadata associated with a plurality of files of the secondary data;
wherein the computing system is configured to:
electronically generate a first graphical user interface for presentation to a user,
wherein the graphical user interface allows the user to modify metadata associated with a selected file,
receive a request from a user entered via the first graphical user interface to modify metadata associated with a selected file of the plurality of files,
based on the modification requested by the user, modify a first version of the metadata associated with the selected file and store the modified version in the index, such that both the first version and the modified version are stored in the system, and
subsequent to the modification of the identified metadata associated with the selected file in the index,
receive a request to browse the selected file, and
in response to the browse request, use the modified version of the metadata associated with the selected file to electronically generate a second graphical user interface to display at least some of the modified version of the metadata associated with the selected file and display at least some content of the selected file.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing system is further configured to receive a request to restore one or more files including the selected file from the secondary data store to the primary data store, in response to the request to restore, use the first version of the metadata associated with the selected file to access the selected file from the secondary data store.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein the computing system is further configured to, in response to the request to restore, replace an instance of the first version of the metadata stored in the secondary data store with the modified version.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing system is further configured to receive a request to prune files from secondary data storage that match a textual pattern.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computing system is further configured to in response to the request to prune files from secondary data storage, use the modified version of the metadata to determine files that match the textual pattern, and delete from secondary storage the files that match the textual pattern.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing system is further configured to logically delete selected files of the plurality of files containing a user-defined textual pattern without physically deleting the selected files from the secondary data store.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the client computer is a laptop computer.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the modification to the metadata is a file name change.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein the index is maintained by a secondary storage editor residing on a storage manager computer of the one or more computing devices.