Defensible pruning

Abstract

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.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of pruning primary and secondary data, the method comprising:
 under control of a hardware processor comprising digital logic circuitry,
 copying at least a portion of primary data in a native format from a primary data store to a secondary data store to create secondary data, said copying comprising storing the secondary data in a non-native format; 
 creating an index of the secondary data, the index comprising metadata associated with the secondary data; 
 electronically generating a graphical user interface for presentation to a user, the graphical user interface enables a user to specify a user-defined textual pattern and to request deletion of files in the secondary data store and the primary data store containing the user-defined textual pattern; 
 searching the index of the secondary data for selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern; 
 deleting the selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern from the secondary data store; and 
 based at least on the index of the secondary data and the metadata associated with the secondary data, searching for and deleting the selected files in primary data store that contain the user-defined textual pattern. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein deleting the selected files comprises removing pointers to blocks associated with the selected files from deduplicated data in the secondary data store, and non-deduplicated data in the primary data store. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising displaying a custom view of the secondary data prior to deleting the selected files, the custom view configured to reflect that the selected files are logically deleted from the secondary data even though the selected files are not physically deleted from the secondary data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising deleting the metadata about the selected files from the index. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein deleting the selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern comprises creating a synthetic full backup from backup data and one or more additional backups. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the graphical user interface further comprises one or more user interface controls that enable the user to define a schedule for periodically deleting the selected files from the primary data store and the secondary data store. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising a physical deletion policy comprises one or more of the following criteria: a period of time since the logical deletion was performed, an amount of data corresponding to the selected files in the secondary data store, and a number of backups that have been performed since a previous backup. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising performing a subsequent incremental or differential backup by at least:
 checking a cumulative index for the selected files to determine whether second files on the primary data store identical to the selected files have already been backed up; and 
 skipping the second files when performing the incremental or differential backup to avoid re-backing up the second files. 
 
     
     
         9 . A system for pruning primary and secondary data, the system comprising:
 a hardware processor comprising digital logic circuitry configured to:
 copy at least a portion of primary data in a native format from a primary data store to a secondary data store to create secondary data, wherein the secondary data is stored in a non-native format; 
 create an index of the secondary data, the index comprising metadata associated with the secondary data; 
 electronically generate a graphical user interface for presentation to a user, the graphical user interface enables a user to specify a user-defined textual pattern and to request deletion of files in the secondary data store and the primary data store containing the user-defined textual pattern; 
 search the index of the secondary data to identify selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern; 
 delete the selected files containing the textual pattern from the secondary data store; 
 based at least on the index of the secondary data and metadata associated with the secondary data, search for and delete the selected files in the primary data store that contain the user-defined textual pattern. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the hardware processor is further configured to delete the selected files by removing pointers to blocks associated with the selected files from deduplicated data in the secondary data store, and non-deduplicated data in the primary data store. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the hardware processor is further configured to display a custom view of the secondary data prior to deleting the selected files, the custom view configured to reflect that the selected files are logically deleted from the secondary data even though the selected files are not physically deleted from the secondary data. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the hardware processor is further configured to delete the metadata about the selected files from the index. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the hardware processor is further configured to delete the selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern by creating a synthetic full backup from backup data and one or more additional backups. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the one or more physical deletion criteria comprise one or more of the following: a period of time since the logical deletion was performed, an amount of data corresponding to the selected files in the secondary data store, and a number of backups that have been performed since the backup or since the logical deletion. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the hardware processor is further configured to delete the files by creating a synthetic full backup from at least backup data. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the hardware processor is further configured to perform a subsequent incremental or differential backup, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:
 check a cumulative index for the files to determine whether second files on the primary data store, identical to the files containing the textual pattern in the backup data, have already been backed up; and 
 skip the second files when performing the incremental or differential backup to avoid re-backing up the second files. 
 
     
     
         17 . Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed in a processor, are configured to implement operations for pruning primary and secondary data, the operations comprising:
 copying at least a portion of primary data in a native format from a primary data store to a secondary data store to create secondary data, said copying comprising storing the secondary data in a non-native format;   creating an index of the secondary data, the index comprising metadata associated with the secondary data;   electronically generating a graphical user interface for presentation to a user, the graphical user interface enables a user to specify a user-defined textual pattern and to request deletion of files in the secondary data store and the primary data store containing the user-defined textual pattern in the backup data be deleted;   searching the index of the secondary data for selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern;   deleting the selected files containing the user-defined textual pattern from the secondary data store; and   based at least on the index of the secondary data and the metadata associated with the secondary data, searching for and deleting the selected files in primary data store that contain the user-defined textual pattern.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory physical computer storage of  claim 17  wherein deleting the selected files comprises removing pointers to blocks associated with the selected files from deduplicated data in the secondary data store and non-deduplicated data in the primary data store. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory physical computer storage of  claim 17  further comprising displaying a custom view of the secondary data prior to deleting the selected files, the custom view configured to reflect that the selected files are logically deleted from the secondary data even though the selected files are not physically deleted from the secondary data. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory physical computer storage of  claim 17  deleting the metadata about the selected files from the index.