Patent attributes
The present invention is directed to a system and method for providing single instance storage of previously backed up data objects in archived backup storage, also known as data deduplication. Current deduplication methods implemented during backup and archiving of data do not work with previously backed up data. Previously backed up images may vary in format depending upon the method of backup and the type of backup system used. As a result, while future backup efforts may prevent multiple instances of backup data, previously backed up data may exist in multiple instances, wasting valuable storage space. The present invention decodes previously stored backup images for deduplication using an image adapter module that works cohesively with a deduplication engine, regardless of the format of the previously backed up images.
