Abstract: The subject invention relates to systems and/or methods that perform an authoritative and/or a non-authoritative restore of items in a data store. Backups are provided that include data associated with items and metadata related to the items that can include a history of operations and previous synchronizations to enable replications to converge after restoration. The operations that can be performed on the items include, for example, create, delete, update, move, etc. The items in the backups can be restored along with the metadata, which can be utilized to enable synchronization partners to converge based on a desired type of restoration.

Abstract: The subject invention relates to systems and methods that enable pausing and/or resuming a backup of file system items. The items are backed up in an order based on a unique property associated with each of the items. When the backup is paused, the unique property associated with a last backed up item prior to the pause is stored. Additionally, a timestamp associated with a snapshot from which the backup was taken can be stored with the unique property. Upon being resumed, the backup can continue from the paused location via utilizing the stored unique property. The backup can be resumed either employing an original snapshot associated with a time prior to the pause or a second snapshot related to a subsequent time. The subject invention can perform an initial backup of file system items and/or an incremental backup of such items. Additionally, the subject invention can support backing up a file system at disparate levels of granularity such as, for example, an item level.

Abstract: A system and method for serialization and/or de-serialization of file system item(s) and associated entity(ies)is provided. A file system “item” comprises a core class which can include property(ies). An item can be simple or compound (e.g., includes other item(s) embedded in it). Associated with an item can be entity(ies) such as fragment(s), link(s) with other item(s) and/or extension(s). Through serialization, a consistent copy of the item and associated entity(ies), if any, can be captured (e.g., for transporting of the item and to reconstruct the item on a destination system). The serialization system includes an identification component that. identities entity(ies) associated with an item and a serialization component that serializes the item and associated entity(ies). The serialization component can further serialize a header that includes information associated with the item and associated entity(ies). The header can facilitate random access to the item and associated entity(ies) (e.g.