Large-scale storage systems frequently utilize logical replication such as from a primary storage site to a secondary storage site to provide enhanced data security. Logical replication may be implemented in a homogeneous manner in which the storage structure paradigm is the same between the primary and secondary storage. For example, logically replicating an inode-based file system to the same inode-based file system structure in secondary storage constitutes homogeneous replication. Heterogeneous replication entails replicating data stored in one data organization format into another such as replicating from an inode-based file system to a data layout implemented in an object-based storage paradigm.
Data recovery from secondary storage may often be undertaken for purposes of recovering a relatively small portion of the total replicated data. For example, specified files and/or directories may be targeted for recovery for particularized reasons such as backup integrity checks or other reasons. In such cases, recovering an entire file system volume may be unduly costly. Alternatively, the recovery may be limited to the targeted data items. However, such targeted recovery may require substantial processing resources such as may be necessary to traverse file system or object-based data layouts to locate and retrieve the desired data items. The costs may be particularly high for recovering data items that have been heterogeneously replicated, such as from a file system primary to an object-based secondary.