US Patent 7739242 NAS system and remote copy method

The present invention remote copies difference data for snapshots in an appropriate manner. A NAS system having one or more file systems for storing data, a snapshot producing section for producing snapshots for the file systems based on a pre-scheduled snapshot acquisition time, a remote copy section for remote copying difference data for the snapshots based on pre-scheduled remote copy start times, and a scheduling section for re-scheduling the time of one or more of an Nth snapshot acquisition time, an Nth remote copy start time, and an (N+1)th remote copy start time, in such a manner that remote copying starting at the Nth remote copy start time finishes by the (N+1)th remote copy start time.