Abstract: Various embodiments of a system and method for restoring a data volume to a client computer system from a backup image are disclosed. A backup image at a remote backup server computer system may first be selected as a data source for the volume. The volume may be “instantly restored” on the client computer system without first requiring all of the data in the remote backup image to be transmitted from the backup server computer system. Instead, a lazy restore technique may be used where volume data is retrieved from the backup image on the backup server computer system as needed. Further embodiments of the system and method may enable the data source for the volume to be switched from the remote backup server computer system to a local data source at a later time.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for restoring images may include (1) identifying an image to restore to a volume, (2) creating a synchronization map that reflects differences between the image and the volume, (3) intercepting at least one attempt to read from a region of the volume, (4) determining, based on the synchronization map, that the region has not yet been restored from the image, (5) copying the region from the image to the volume, (6) updating the synchronization map to reflect that the region has been restored, and (7) allowing the attempt to read from the region to proceed. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.