| 摘要 |
Data processing methods and apparatus for efficiently storing and retrieving data, e.g., blocks of data, to and from memory. The data processing including, e.g., techniques such as using linked lists and/or tables for tracking duplicate data blocks received for storage, the use of lossless data compression, and de-duplication based on comparing hash values, compressed data block sizes, and/or bit by bit comparisons of the block of data to be stored and previously stored blocks of data. For example, one embodiment of a method in accordance with the present invention includes generating a hash value from a block of data to be stored and a hash function; compressing the block of data to be stored to generate a compressed block of data, said compressed block of data being of a first size; comparing said generated hash value to hash values corresponding to previously stored blocks of data; and when said generated hash value matches a hash value of a previously stored block of data, determining if the block of data to be stored matches the previously stored block of data with the matching hash value. In some embodiments of the present invention, the aforementioned determining step includes comparing said first size to the size of said previously stored block of data with the matching hash value; and determining that said block of data to be stored does not match said previously stored block of data when said first size does not match the size of said stored block of data. |
