US Patent 10248336 Efficient deletion of shared snapshots

Efficient deletion of a shared snapshot and other workflows are described herein, including: determining to delete a shared snapshot associated with a first container, wherein the shared snapshot shares with a second container at least a subset of data values that are stored by the shared snapshot, the determination is based at least in part on the shared snapshot sharing data values with not more than a prescribed number of containers other than the second container and an occurrence of a deletion triggering event; and causing zero or more data values that are stored by the shared snapshot and shared with the second container to be associated with the second container prior to deleting the shared snapshot.