A shallow file is adapted for intensive read-only access to data of a primary file. The primary file resides in another file system or file server. The shallow file includes the data block mapping metadata of the primary file and a link to the primary file. To open the shallow file, the file system manager...http://www.google.se/patents/US7653612?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7653612 - Data protection services offload using shallow files
