Systems and methods for adaptive copy on write

In one embodiment, a user or client device communicates with a distributed file system comprised of one or more physical nodes. The data on each of the physical nodes store metadata about files and directories within the file system. Some of the embodiments permit a user to take a snapshot of data stored on the file system. The snapshot may include a single file, a single directory, a plurality of files within a directory, a plurality of directories, a path on the file system that includes nested files and subdirectories, or more than one path on the file system that each includes nested files and directories. In some embodiments, systems and methods intelligently choose whether to use copy-on-write or point-in-time copy when saving data in a snapshot version of a file whose current version is being overwritten. In some embodiments, systems and methods allow snapshot users to return from a snapshot directory to the immediate parent directory from which the user entered into the snapshot.