Changes such as write operations on a replication source comprising a
hierarchically-indexed file system and associated data store are tracked
and aggregated over a point-in-time image replication interval and
communicated to a replication target. The replication target receives the
changes, conducts operations to make the changes on a target volume or
portion thereof, and conducts a point-in-time image replication operation
to synchronize the replication target with the replication source. In the
present invention the advantages of replication techniques developed for
log-structured file systems are provided to systems with conventional
hierarchical file systems. The invention also facilitates maintaining
point-in-time retrievable images of a volume or portion thereof on a
target volume while reducing the bandwidth and processing burden
associated with replication.