Patent attributes
An example storage system may include storage media and a storage controller. The storage controller may be to establish virtual volumes, private data stores, and a deduplication data store, each being a virtual storage space of the storage media, wherein each of the private data stores is associated with one of the virtual volumes and the deduplication data store is shared among the virtual volumes. The storage controller may, in response to receiving input data that is to be stored in a given one of the virtual volumes, determine a signature for the input data and select between storing the input data in the private data store associated with the given one of the virtual volumes and storing the input data in the deduplication data store. The storage controller may select where to store the input data based on whether a metadata storage location addressed by a first portion of the signature includes valid metadata, and, if so: whether the metadata includes a back-pointer to one of the virtual volumes, and whether a second portion of the signature matches a key included in the metadata.
