Abstract: A method for live conversion and movement of a virtual machine image and state information between hypervisors includes: freezing a current state of a source image; creating a proxy; redirecting any changes made to the source image to a journal of the proxy; reading from the source image; writing to the journal; converting the source image to a target image; and replaying the journal on the target image.

Abstract: A system for live conversion and movement of a virtual machine image and state information between hypervisors includes: means for freezing a current state of a source image; means for creating a proxy; means for redirecting any changes made to the source image to a journal of the proxy; means for reading from the source image; means for writing to the journal; means for converting the source image to a target image; means for reattaching the journal to the target image; and means for replaying the journal on the target image.

Abstract: A data storage system, method and a data storage and backup system are provided. The data storage method comprises defining a local storage of the data processing system as a journal vault; storing data in the journal vault by journaling; sending the data from the journal vault to a transmitter; and transmitting the data from the transmitter to a secondary storage. The present invention enhances a write function of a low performance storage device by journaling. In a case where the present invention is applied to a backup system, the performance of the whole backup system can be improved significantly, and the backup system can be extended to a remote site easily. When a storage of a production system fails, the storage system of the present invention can be switched to “production mode” and service resumes to be provided with the shortest downtime.