Image backup method for backing up disk partitions of a storage device

摘要

A method is provided for backing up data from a storage device having one or more partitions. Each partition has a plurality of clusters that include one or more sectors capable of storing data to be backed up. A number of sectors are specified for a block such that a partition to be backed up is defined in terms of a plurality of the blocks. A block map is then generated to indicate whether each of the blocks in the partition contains any data to be backed up. The block map is then traversed and the blocks that are indicated in the block map to contain the data are backed up from the partition while the blocks having no data are not backed up.