In-place disk partition canonization and storage optimization

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 , wherein the partition is an NTFS partition.

Claim 4

The system of claim 2 , wherein the means for canonizing the partition in-place comprises a means for defragmenting a Master File Table in-place.

Claim 5

The system of claim 1 , wherein the means for canonizing the partition in-place comprises a means for defragmenting a file in-place.

Claim 9

The system of claim 6 , wherein the partition is an NTFS partition.

Claim 10

A computer-implemented method for manipulating at least one formatted disk partition containing an advanced file system, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of the advanced file system and is located on at least one disk attached to a disk drive, the partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to an advanced file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by canonizing the file system in the selected partition, the modified partition having at least one different system file location than the selected partition and being organized according to the same advanced file system as the selected partition.

Claim 11

A computer-implemented method for manipulating at least one formatted disk partition containing an advanced file system, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of the advanced file system and is located on at least one disk attached to a disk drive, the partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to an advanced file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by canonizing the file system in the selected partition, the modified partition having at least one different system file location than the selected partition and being organized according to the same advanced file system as the selected partition.

Claim 12

The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of gaining exclusive write access to the selected partition prior to the modifying step.

Claim 13

The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of rebooting after the modifying step.

Claim 14

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises avoiding bad sectors.

Claim 15

The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of verifying the integrity and consistency of file system data in at least one of the selected partition and the modified partition.

Claim 16

The method of claim 8 , wherein the selecting step comprises selecting an NTFS partition.

Claim 17

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises preserving at least one copy of all user data on the disk at all times during the modifying step, thereby reducing the risk of loss of user data if operation of the disk drive is temporarily interrupted during the modifying step.

Claim 18

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step further comprises the step of defragmenting at least one file in the selected partition.

Claim 19

The method of claim 15 , wherein the defragmenting step defragments an NTFS Master File Table.

Claim 20

The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of optimizing storage in the selected partition by reclaiming directory space.

Claim 21

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises distinguishing between resident attributes and external attributes in an NTFS partition.

Claim 22

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises checking for multiple data streams in a file.

Claim 23

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises determining whether the file system is in an unknown state.

Claim 24

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises disabling caching.

Claim 25

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step is initiated remotely from another computer.

Claim 26

The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of recording operations performed on the selected partition.

Claim 27

The method of claim 23 , farther comprising the step of repeating the recorded operations on a second selected partition to produce a second modified partition.

Claim 28

The method of claim 23 , further comprising the step of sequentially undoing at least one recorded operation on the modified partition.

Claim 29

The method of claim 8 , wherein the modifying step comprises determining whether the selected partition is in a file system stored on more than one disk.

Claim 30

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by canonizing the NTFS file system in the selected partition.

Claim 31

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by canonizing the NTFS file system in the selected partition.

Claim 32

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by defragmenting at least one user file in the selected partition.

Claim 33

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by defragmenting at least one user file in the selected partition.

Claim 34

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by defragmenting a Master File Table of the selected partition.

Claim 35

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by defragmenting a Master File Table of the selected partition.

Claim 36

A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for manipulating an NTFS formatted disk partition, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a formatted partition which holds at least part of an NTFS file system and is located on a disk attached to a disk drive, the selected partition having a left edge and a right edge and containing a plurality of sectors organized according to the NTFS file system into user data and system data; and modifying the selected partition in-place to produce a modified partition by reclaiming directory space in the selected partition.