Patent ID: 7444389

Claim:
A method of processing data in a computer system comprising at least one host and at least one content addressable storage system which stores units of data for the at least one host, wherein the at least one host accesses a unit of data using a content address based at least in part on the content of the unit of data, the method comprising acts of: (a) creating the content addresses for units of data to comprise first information that provides an indication of which units of data are written to the storage system proximate in time, wherein the act (a) comprises, for at least one of the units of data, acts of: creating a hash of at least a portion of the unit of data; and adding the first information to the hash to create the content address for the one of the units of data; (b) accessing one of the units of data by providing the content address for the one of the units of data to the storage system; and (c) considering the first information the content address for the one of the units of data in determining where within the storage system to store the one of the units of data.