Systems and methods to detect deleted files

Abstract

A data storage system protects data identified for deletion which has been created or modified between scheduled data backups. For instance, the system monitors data operations and when the data operation is a delete, the system determines whether the data identified for deletion has been protected by a backup operation. Data that has not been backed up, such as newly created data, is copied to temporary storage before deletion. When the data has been protected, the system determines whether the data has been modified after the backup operation. Data modified after the backup operation is copied to temporary storage before deletion.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method to protect data deleted between data protection operations in a data management system, the method comprising:
 automatically monitoring, with a first computing device comprising computer hardware, one or more data operations in primary storage that occur after one or more data protection operations;   when the one or more data operations is a deletion operation, automatically identifying deletion data associated with the deletion operation;   determining whether the deletion data has been protected by the one or more data protection operations, and when the deletion data has not been protected, automatically converting the deletion data to a hidden file;   automatically copying the hidden file to temporary storage; and   automatically migrating, during a subsequent second data protection operation, the hidden file stored in the temporary storage to secondary storage.