Patent ID: 7805470

Claim:
A method of managing content units in a file system installed on a computer system comprising at least one input, and at least one controller coupled to the at least one input and configured to store content units in the file system, the method comprising acts of: receiving via the at least one input, a first request to store a first content unit, the first content unit having a first content address that is computed, at least in part, by hashing the content of the first content unit; in response to the first request, storing the first content unit in a file in the file system; receiving via the at least one input, a second request to store a second content unit, the second content unit having a second address that is computed, at least in part, by hashing the content of the second content unit; in response to the second request, storing the second content unit in the same file in which the first content unit is stored and in a manner that enables the first and second content units to be separately accessible; receiving a third request to store a third content unit, the third content unit having a same content as the first content unit; determining that the first and third content units have the same content; and in response to determining that the first and third content units have the same content, declining to store the third content unit.