JP2010176534A - Information processor and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor which performs recovery processing, the information processor allowing a user to easily set the state of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) having been subjected to recovery processing, and to provide a program to be executed in the information processor. <P>SOLUTION: A user interface is prepared which allows the user to set and change: a configuration file having information relating to the state of the HDD 104 having been subjected to the recovery processing in a PC which performs the recovery processing; and an image 64 for recovery having the information of data to be restored in the HDD 104 by the recovery processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a recovery function, and is particularly executed in an information processing apparatus and an information processing apparatus having a function of making data in an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) after recovery processing desired data of a user. Related to the program.

There is provided a PC having a recovery function for restoring a PC to an environment at the time of purchase (shipment) when a trouble such as a failure occurs in the PC (Personal Computer). This recovery function restores the OS (Operating System) area in the HDD to the same contents as at the time of purchase (factory shipment) using an image file called a recovery image stored in the HDD recovery area of the HDD. It is a function. Conventionally, this image file is a file that has been provided in advance, and if recovery processing is performed, the HDD simply returns to the state at the time of purchase (factory shipment) and restores the data added by the user if not saved separately. It was impossible.

However, in recent years, an OS that allows a user to create and select a recovery image file has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). If the OS according to this proposal is used, it is possible to change the image for recovery and bring the data in the HDD after recovery into a desired state including the data added by the user.

JP 2003-99268 A

  It is possible to restore the data in the HDD after the recovery process to the user's desired state by changing the recovery image used for the recovery process using the OS according to the above proposal. Alternatively, it has been disclosed as a technology for information technology professionals, and it has been difficult for general users to handle work mistakes such as requiring direct command level operations.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus that allows a user to easily set the state of an HDD after recovery processing, and a program executed in the information processing apparatus. To do.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage device, a recovery file storing the storage contents of the storage device, and a configuration file in which the state of the storage device when the recovery file is restored to the storage device is described And the state of the storage area described in the configuration file is displayed on the screen, the editing means for editing the information of the configuration file, the recovery file and the information described in the configuration file, based on the information And a recovery means for recovering the storage device.

  A program according to the present invention is a program executed in an information processing apparatus having a processing unit, a display device, and a storage device, and includes a recovery file storing the storage contents of the storage device, and the file The contents of the configuration file showing the status of the storage device when restored to the storage device are displayed on the display device, the information described in the configuration file is edited by the processing unit, and the recovery file In addition, the processing unit is caused to perform recovery processing based on information written in the configuration file.

  By providing a user interface for data restoration in the HDD, which allows the user of the PC to visually restore the image file for HDD recovery, the user can easily select the status in the HDD after the recovery process Alternatively, an information processing device that can be set and a program executed in the information processing device can be realized.

The block diagram which shows an example of the internal structure of PC in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of a structure in HDD of the initial setting in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the flow of the recovery process in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the content of the configuration file in this embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the partition structure of HDD after the recovery process based on the structure file in this embodiment. The figure which shows the example of the image file for recovery in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the flow of the recovery process in this embodiment. The figure which shows an example of the recovery setting screen displayed on a display part in the recovery setting application in this embodiment. The flowchart which shows an example of the recovery setting process flow in this embodiment.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the PC 100 in the present embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a PC 100, CPU 101, ROM 102, RAM 103, HDD 104, optical disk 105, ODD 106, display unit 107, KBC 108, keyboard 109, mouse 110, and bus 111.

  The PC 100 is an information processing apparatus that performs various calculation processes according to instructions from the user. The PC 100 has a recovery processing function. The recovery processing function here refers to a function of resetting the HDD 104 to a usable state and restoring the data in the HDD 104 when, for example, the HDD 104 of the PC 100 becomes inaccessible for some reason.

  The CPU 101 is a central processing unit and controls the entire PC 100. Also, it has a function of executing predetermined processing according to various programs.

The ROM 102 is composed of a semiconductor memory and stores, for example, a program executed by the CPU 101.

  The RAM 103 is composed of a semiconductor memory, and is used as an area for developing a program and data when the CPU 101 processes the program.

  The HDD 104 is, for example, a hard disk drive, and is a non-volatile large-capacity storage area that can read and write data. The HDD 104 stores programs and data used by the PC 100. The HDD 104 can also create partitions that can be handled as individual areas. In this embodiment, the HDD 104 in the initial state has two partitions, an OS area and an HDD recovery area. The HDD 104 stores a recovery setting application program having a recovery processing function. The recovery setting application program is a program for the CPU 101 to execute the recovery setting application in the present embodiment.

The optical disk 105 is a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), for example, and stores programs, data, and the like used by the PC 100 as removable media. In this embodiment, the optical disk 105 is exemplified as the removable medium, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  The ODD 106 is an optical disk drive and has a function of reading and writing various information on the optical disk 105.

  The display unit 107 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and has a function of displaying image information output from the PC 100 to the user.

  The KBC 108 is a controller that controls input from the keyboard 109 and the mouse 110. User operation information is transmitted from the keyboard 109 and the mouse 110 and input to the PC 100 as input information.

  The keyboard 109 has a function of detecting that the user has pressed a key and transmitting the information to the KBC 108.

  The mouse 110 has a function of detecting movement of the mouse 110 and pressing of a key when the user moves the hand by hand, and transmitting the information to the KBC 108.

  Various modules in the PC 100 are connected to the bus 111 to enable communication between the modules.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration in the HDD 104 which is initially set in the present embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an HDD 104, an OS area 21, an HDD recovery area 22, an OS 23, and a recovery image 24.

  The HDD 104 remains the initial setting in this embodiment, and has two partitions, the OS area 21 and the HDD recovery area 22.

  The OS area 21 is one of the partitions of the HDD 104, and stores the OS 23 and various types of information (for example, various software used in the PC 100 and data normally stored by the user).

  The HDD recovery area 22 is one of the partitions of the HDD 104, and stores information necessary for recovery processing such as a recovery image and a configuration file. The recovery image is an image file obtained by compressing predetermined data used when performing the recovery process. During the recovery process, the PC 100 decompresses the recovery image and stores it in the OS area of the HDD 104 to restore the data. To do. The configuration file stores, for example, information such as the number of partitions of the HDD 104, the usage method of each partition, and size information of each partition. The recovery process is a process in which the PC 100 reconfigures the state in the HDD 104 based on information on these recovery images and configuration files. Further, the recovery setting process in the present embodiment is a process for causing the user to change the settings of the recovery image and the configuration file by the recovery setting application, and the user can change the data in the HDD 104 after the recovery by the recovery setting process. Can be in a desired state.

  The OS 23 is an operating system in the PC 100, and is software for managing the entire PC 100.

  The recovery image 24 is a file used at the time of recovery processing, and is an image file obtained by compressing the data in the OS area 21 including the OS 23 in the initial setting of the PC 100 for storage.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of recovery processing in the present embodiment.

  The HDD 104 in the upper left of FIG. 3 is in a state where a defect (not physical) has occurred in the OS area 31. It is assumed that recovery processing is performed on the HDD 104. First, the OS area 31 in which a defect has occurred is formatted, and the area corresponding to the OS area 32 of the HDD 104 is initialized. After initialization, the OS area 32 is created in the area where the OS area 31 was. The OS area 32 here is in a state where there is no defect and no data is entered. Then, the recovery image 24 stored in the HDD recovery area 22 is decompressed, and the OS 23 as data after the decompression process is stored in the OS area 32. By doing so, the HDD 104 having the OS 23 is restored without having a defect in the OS area. This completes the recovery process.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the configuration file in the present embodiment.

  The PC 100 has a configuration file including the contents shown in FIG. 5 in the HDD recovery area 22 of the HDD 104. In the recovery process in the present embodiment, the partition configuration and various settings of the HDD 104 are performed based on the contents of this configuration file. The configuration file shown in FIG. 4 is in a state where data for recovery processing at the initial setting is stored. In the recovery setting process according to the present embodiment, the contents of the configuration file are changed, and the partition structure of the HDD 104 and various settings are changed after the recovery process.

As the contents of the configuration file, FIG. 4 shows, for example, the number of partitions, the settings of each partition, the size of each partition, the file system of each partition, the level of recovery, the encryption setting of each partition, the hidden setting of each partition, etc. ing. As described above, the user can change the setting in the configuration file by the recovery setting application, and can freely select and set the state of the HDD 104 after the recovery processing. The partition file system here refers to a file system format for managing files stored in each partition. The recovery level refers to an implementation level of overwriting meaningless data on the HDD 104 during the recovery process so that it is difficult to read the data originally stored in the HDD 104 later when performing the recovery process. The encryption setting for each partition refers to a setting as to whether or not to perform encryption processing for each partition after recovery processing. Further, the hidden setting of each partition refers to a setting as to whether or not to hide each partition from the user after the recovery process. Further, although the contents of the configuration file are exemplified in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and information necessary for the recovery process is stored in the configuration file.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the partition configuration of the HDD 104 after the recovery process based on the configuration file in the present embodiment. FIG. 5 shows the HDD 104, the OS area 21, the HDD recovery area 22, the OS area 51, the user area 52, the OS area 53, the user area A54, the user area B55, and the free area 56.

In the present embodiment, the user can change the partition structure of the HDD 14 and various recovery process settings by changing the configuration file settings using the recovery setting application. FIG. 5 shows patterns 1 to 3 as examples of the partition structure of the HDD 104 when it is changed by changing the setting of the configuration file.

The HDD 104 partition structure of pattern 1 follows the configuration file contents shown in FIG. 4, and is the partition structure at the time of purchase (factory shipment).

In the pattern 104 HDD 104 partition structure, the OS area 51 has a smaller capacity than the pattern 1 OS area 21, and a user area 52 is added. Here, the user area 52 is a partition that the user creates and uses privately. Here, the capacities of the OS area 51 and the user area 52 are 60 GB and 30 GB, respectively. The configuration of the configuration file is set by the recovery processing setting application as follows: number of partitions = 3, first partition = OS area, second partition = user area, third partition = HDD recovery area, first partition size = 60 GB, second partition size = If changed to 30 GB, the third partition size = 30 GB,..., The pattern 104 HDD 104 partition structure is created after the HDD 104 for recovery processing is formatted. Incidentally, the HDD recovery area 22 is the same as the HDD recovery area 22 of pattern 1.

Regarding the pattern 3, the HDD 104 is composed of three partitions, an OS area 53, a user area A54, and a user area B55, and a free area 56. As described above, a plurality of user areas can be created as in pattern 3, and each user area can be used for a purpose. The free area 56 of the pattern 3 is an area in a state where the partition is not created while being formatted during the recovery process. In addition, when the user does not need the HDD recovery area, it is possible to format the entire HDD 104 and create the HDD 104 structure without the HDD recovery area.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a recovery image file in the present embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an OS 23, a recovery image A24, an additional driver 61, a recovery image B62, an additional application 63, a recovery image C64, additional user data 65, and a recovery image D66.

  Consider a case where data is added to data stored in the OS area of the HDD 104 and the data changes in the order of a → b → c → d. The data stored first is data of only the OS 23, then the user adds the additional driver 61, then adds the additional application 63, and finally stores the additional user data 65 in the OS area. We add to data sequentially.

  At timing a, nothing has been added yet, and the data stored in the OS area of the HDD 104 is only the OS 23. The recovery image at this point is the default recovery image A24.

  An additional driver 61 is added at timing b. At this time, the recovery image can be updated by the recovery setting application in the present embodiment. When the recovery setting process is performed at the timing b and the recovery image is updated, the recovery image is stored in the HDD recovery area so that it can be used as the recovery image B62. The recovery image B62 is an image obtained by compressing data stored in the OS area at the timing b.

  Similarly, at timings c and d, the data in the OS area of the HDD 104 is updated, and the recovery image can be updated like the recovery image C64 and the recovery image D66. Here, the additional application 63 is an application added by the user, and the additional user data here indicates normal data used by the user added by the user and a user's own file created by the user. Regarding the update of this recovery image, the PC 100 has one recovery image in the HDD recovery area, and it does not update that image each time, but at the time of update, it becomes a difference from the image updated last time. The data image is stored in the HDD recovery area in association with information related to the update (date, user comment at the time of update, etc.). When the user selects a recovery image to be restored, a state to be restored is selected based on information (date, user comment at the time of update, etc.) associated with the recovery image to be restored. When the selection is made, during the recovery process, the PC 100 creates data that the user wants to restore from the image stored in the HDD recovery area and stores it in the OS area. In this embodiment, for example, when it is desired to restore data at timing b, the PC 100 decompresses the image of only the OS 23 and the image of the additional driver 61 and stores them in the OS area. In the present embodiment, for convenience of explanation, each recovery image is handled as if data in the OS area at each timing is stored as one image.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of recovery processing in the present embodiment. FIG. 7 shows a pattern having a partition configuration of pattern 2 and performing recovery processing using the recovery image C64 at timing c. FIG. 7 shows the HDD 104, the OS area 31, the HDD recovery area 22, the OS area 71, the user area 72, the recovery image C64, and the post-restoration data 73.

  Here, similarly to the recovery process described with reference to FIG. 3, the recovery process of the HDD 104 from a state in which a defect (not physical) has occurred in the OS area 31 of the HDD 104 will be exemplified. First, the defective OS area 31 is formatted, and a partition is created based on the contents of the configuration file. Next, the recovery image C 64 is decompressed and stored in the OS area 71. As described above, by performing the recovery process after performing the recovery setting process using the recovery setting program in the present embodiment, the user sets the partition structure and OS area data in 104 after the recovery process to a desired one. It is possible.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a recovery setting screen displayed on the display unit 107 in the recovery setting application according to the present embodiment. 8 shows a recovery setting application window 801, a partition setting tab 802, an image setting tab 803, a partition setting field 804, a type setting field 805, a size setting field 806, a file system setting field 807, an encryption setting field 808, and a hidden setting field. 809, a recovery level setting field 810, an enter button 811 and a cancel button 812 are shown.

  When the recovery setting application according to the present embodiment is activated on the PC 100, a recovery setting application window 801 is displayed on the display unit 107, and the user can make recovery settings. The recovery setting application window 801 includes a partition setting tab 802 and an image setting tab 803. In the partition setting tab 802, various settings related to the HDD 104 partition during recovery and settings related to the recovery level can be performed. Further, in the image setting tab 803, it is possible to update an image and select an image to be used during recovery processing (not shown).

  A partition setting column 804 is a column for setting whether or not to create a partition, and either “Enable” or “Disable” can be selected. When “Enable” is selected, the partition is created, and when “Disable” is selected, the partition is not created. In the present embodiment, the description of “Enable” is given by naming the first and second partitions in ascending order of the numbers assigned to the partitions in FIG.

  The type setting field 805 can be set to set each partition as a basic area or an extended area. Here, generally, a basic area is a partition in which a logical area cannot be created inside a partition, and an extended area is a partition in which a logical area can be created inside a partition. In addition, only one extension area can be created.

  The size setting column 806 is a column for setting the size of each partition. It is possible to enter the ratio of use of each partition in the HDD 104.

  A file system setting column 807 is a column for setting the file system of each partition. By clicking the “lower triangle” button beside the column, a list of file systems that can be set is displayed, and the user selects a file system to be set from the list. The file system here is exemplified by “NTFS” and “FAT 34”, but is not limited thereto.

  The encryption setting column 808 is a column for setting whether or not to encrypt each partition.

  The hidden setting column 809 is a column for setting whether or not to perform hidden setting for each partition.

  The recovery level setting column 810 is a column for setting a recovery level when performing recovery processing.

  The decision button 811 is a button for reflecting each setting in the recovery setting application by clicking.

  A cancel button 812 is a button that, when clicked, ends the recovery setting application without reflecting each setting changed in the recovery setting application.

  Partition 1 in this embodiment is an OS area partition and cannot be set to “Disable”. Partition 4 is a partition in the HDD recovery area, and settings other than the partition setting field 804 and the size setting field 806 cannot be performed. In addition, after performing the recovery setting process after setting the partition setting field 804 to “Disable”, the HDD recovery area disappears and information related to the recovery process disappears from the PC 100. The recovery process cannot be performed at the same time, and when the recovery process is performed next, it is necessary to perform the recovery process using a removable medium having information related to the recovery process.

  Here, the partition 2 and the partition 3 are treated as user areas when “Enable” is set.

  Further, when the total of the partition sizes set here is less than 100%, a free area is generated after the recovery process.

The partition setting set by the recovery setting application in FIG. 8 is an example of setting the partition structure of the pattern 2 in FIG. 5. When the recovery processing is performed by reflecting the recovery setting in FIG. The partition structure of the HDD 104 is the pattern 2 structure.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the recovery setting process flow in the present embodiment.

First, the CPU 101 acquires a recovery setting application program from the HD 104 and starts the application (S901). When the application is started, the CPU 101 acquires information related to recovery processing (information such as a recovery image and information in the configuration file) from the recovery area in the HD 104, and sets the information on the display unit by the user through the recovery setting application window 801. Display is possible (S902, S903). Next, the CPU 101 determines whether or not to change the setting of the contents of the configuration file based on an instruction from the user (S904). When changing the setting of the contents of the configuration file (Yes), the CPU 101 acquires change information from the user (S905), and updates the configuration file based on the change information (S906). When the user continues the recovery setting process after S906 is completed (S907, Yes), the process flow returns to S902. In S904, without changing the setting of the contents of the configuration file (No), when the image is updated to the recovery image (S908, Yes), the CPU 101 compares the data stored in the OS area with the previous image update. An additional image is acquired by acquiring the difference and compressing (S909), and stored in the HDD recovery area in association with the update information (S910). When S910 ends, the process flow proceeds to S907. When the process ends in S907 (No), or when the image is not changed in S908 (No), the process proceeds to S911, and the recovery setting application is ended. This is the end of the series of processing flows.

  The recovery setting application in the present embodiment may be activated by the user, but may be automatically activated when performing the recovery process. If it is automatically activated at the time of recovery processing, it is possible to make settings for the recovery processing to be performed in the future, which makes it easier for the user to use.

  By providing the recovery setting application according to the present embodiment, even a general user who does not have specialized knowledge can easily perform settings related to recovery processing.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

100: PC
101: CPU
102: ROM
103: RAM
104: HDD
105: Optical disk 106: ODD
107: Display unit 108: KBC
109: Keyboard 110: Mouse 111: Bus 21: OS area 22: HDD recovery area 23: OS
24: Image for recovery 31: OS area 32: OS area 51: OS area 52: User area 53: OS area 54: User area A
55: User area B
56: Free space 61: Additional driver 62: Recovery image B
63: Additional application 64: Image C for recovery
65: Additional user data 66: Recovery image D
71: OS area 72: User area 73: Post-restoration data 801: Recovery setting application window 802: Partition setting tab 803: Image setting tab 804: Partition setting field 805: Type setting field 806: Size setting field 807: File system setting field 808: Encryption setting field 809: Hidden setting field 810: Recovery level setting field 811: Enter button 812: Cancel button

Claims (8)

A storage device;
A recovery file storing the storage contents of the storage device;
A configuration file describing the state of the storage device when the recovery file is restored to the storage device;
Editing means for displaying the state of the storage area described in the configuration file on a screen and editing information of the configuration file;
An information processing apparatus comprising: recovery means for recovering the storage device based on the information written in the recovery file and the configuration file. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the editing unit further includes an input unit that selects and inputs one file used for recovery of the storage device among the plurality of recovery files prepared. Update means for updating the recovery file,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the editing unit activates the updating unit. The recovery means comprises a partition having a predetermined size in the storage device according to the information written in the configuration file, and a function for formatting the partition so that it can be used in a file system of a predetermined format. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A program executed in an information processing apparatus having a processing unit, a display device, and a storage device,
The display device displays the contents of the recovery file that stores the storage contents of the storage device, and the configuration file that indicates the state of the storage device when the file is restored to the storage device,
Let the processing unit edit the information written in the configuration file,
A program that causes the processing unit to perform a recovery process on the storage device based on information written in the recovery file and the configuration file. 6. The program according to claim 5, wherein one file used for recovery of the storage device is further selected from the recovery files prepared by a plurality of processing units. The program according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the processing unit further causes the processing unit to update the recovery file. According to the information written in the configuration file in the recovery process, the processing unit causes the storage device to format a partition having a predetermined size and the partition so that it can be used in a file system of a predetermined format. The program according to any one of claims 5 to 7.

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