METHOD FOR PROTECTING STORAGE DEVICE DATA INTEGRITY IN AN EXTERNAL OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

摘要

Data-integrity protection of a cached storage device is provided in an alternate operating system (OS) environment by replacing an actual partition table for a disk with a dummy partition table and scrambling a predetermined amount of data on the cached storage device. The dummy partition table is designed to render data on the disk inaccessible when the dummy partition table is used by an OS to access the data. During operation, the data on the disk can be accessed using information based on the actual partition table. In response to receiving a request to disable caching, the dummy partition table on the disk is replaced with the actual partition table and any scrambled data is unscrambled, thus rendering the data on the formally cached disk accessible in an alternate OS environment where appropriate caching software is not present.

主权项

1. A method for protecting data integrity of a disk in an alternate operating system (OS) environment, the method comprising:
loading a caching process; replacing, in response to loading the caching process, an actual master boot record that includes an actual partition table for the disk with a replacement master boot record that includes code to load caching software and a dummy partition table, wherein the dummy partition table renders data on the disk inaccessible when the dummy partition table is used by an OS to access the data; scrambling a portion of the disk; accessing the data on the disk using information based on the actual partition table; replacing the replacement master boot record on the disk with the actual master boot record for the disk and the dummy partition table on the disk with the actual partition table in response to receiving a request to disable the caching process; and unscrambling the portion of the disk.