US Patent 10042711 Distributed data protection techniques with cloning

A request is received to clone a primary backup copy. An identification is made of a disk image file including the primary backup copy. The disk image file is scanned to split an amount of data to be cloned among a set of hosts. The hosts are provisioned. The hosts are assigned a portion of the amount of data to be cloned. A host clones its respective portion in parallel with another host to create clone sets on a clone target. A clone set includes a copy of at most a portion of the primary backup copy.