Patent ID: 8533158

Claim:
A method of reclaiming storage, comprising: storing a first metadata record associating a first time with a first write of a first data block and a first write of a second data block; storing a second metadata record associating a second time with a second write of the second data block and a first write of a third data block, wherein the second time is later than the first time; receiving an indication that a continuous data protection window moves beyond the second time such that the second time is earlier than any time still in the continuous data protection window; receiving an indication that a user mounts a restore point to ensure that a previous version data is retained beyond the continuous data protection window; in response to receipt of the indication that the user mounts the restore point and receipt of the indication that the continuous data protection window moves beyond the second time: using a processor to determine that each of the first metadata record and the second metadata record includes at least a portion of the previous version data associated with the mounted restore point; determining that the first write of the second data block is not included in the previous version data; and in response to the determination that the previous version data does not include the first write of the second data block, rewriting the first metadata record to not reference the first write of the second data block.