A method and apparatus for creating backup files by creating an overhead
segment for each file that is to be backed up and creating a data segment
containing the data that is to be backed up for each file. After creating
overhead segment and the data segment, the overhead segment is placed
into an overhead stream and the data segment is stored in a memory. The
overhead segment is also positioned in the overhead stream with a pointer
that identifies the location of the data within the memory. As such, the
backup file comprises a data segment and an overhead stream.