Kenneth A Vaughn

US Patent:

7971012, Jun 28, 2011

Filed:

May 15, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/803423

Inventors:

Kenneth R. Vaughn - Cypress TX, US

Assignee:

Pitney Bowes Inc. - Stamford CT

International Classification:

G06F 12/00
G06F 11/00

US Classification:

711162, 714 5

Abstract:

An improved method and system to return a mail processing control computer back into operation after a hard drive failure. A first phase is a back-up process for the primary drive of the mail processing computer. A second phase is the recovery process when a primary hard drive failure occurs. The back-up process includes copying the primary drive to be protected to a spare backup drive. The data copied to the backup drive reflects data of the primary drive at a particular point in time. Once the backup drive is installed, the machine returns to normal operation. In the course of normal operation, incremental changes to the primary hard drive are recorded to a backup computer. When there is a failure of the primary drive, a new primary drive is installed in its place. An image of the backup drive is then copied to the new primary drive, thereby causing the new primary drive to reflect the original primary drive at the particular point in time. Next, the incremental changes recorded in the backup computer are updated to the primary drive from the backup computer.