Partial sharing of secondary storage files in a data storage system

摘要

The data storage system according to certain aspects can allow users to share a portion of a file (e.g., a document) in secondary storage. The user may specify a portion of a secondary storage file to share and send a link to the portion to another user. The other user can access the shared portion from the link, and just the shared portion may be restored from secondary storage. The data storage system according to certain aspects can also provide a native view of secondary storage data on a client computer. The index data and/or metadata relating to secondary storage data may be stored in native format (e.g., format of the application(s) that generated the secondary storage data) so that the secondary storage data can be displayed in a native view. The index data and/or metadata may be synchronized on the client without synchronizing the secondary storage data itself.

主权项

1. A method of sharing a portion of a file in secondary storage, the method comprising:
using one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware:
copying a plurality of files residing in a primary storage subsystem to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem to generate secondary copies of each of the plurality of files;creating index data associated with the secondary copies of the plurality of files, the index data stored in the secondary storage subsystem and including information sufficient to display at least some of the secondary copies of the plurality of files in a native view within a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed to a user of a client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem, the native view configured to include a representation of a file system structure, wherein the at least some of the secondary copies are presented and selectable within the native view;receiving, from the client computing device, a request to share a portion of the secondary copy of a first file of the plurality of files, the request initiated via selection of the secondary copy of the first file in the native view provided by the GUI;in response to the request, generating a link to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file, the link including a reference to a secondary copy offset in the secondary copy of the first file that corresponds to a position of the portion within the first file; andin response to receipt of an indication of a user selection of the link, causing a restore of the portion of the secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices for presentation to a user, without restoring the entire secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices.