Apparatus and method for storing received data blocks as deduplicated data blocks

An apparatus stores received data blocks as deduplicated data blocks. The apparatus is configured to: maintain a plurality of containers, where a reference to a container is unique within the apparatus and each container includes one or more data segments and segment metadata for each data segment, the segment metadata including a segment identifier and a segment reference, where the segment identifier is unique within the container and the segment reference is unique within the apparatus; and maintain a plurality of deduplicated data blocks storing received data blocks, where each deduplicated data block includes a plurality of identified container references, where a container reference identifier is unique within the deduplicated data block, and an ordered list of one or more segment indicators.