A storage system comprises: a controller; a memory; one or more objects, each object having content data and metadata which includes system metadata; and a policy which governs writing of the content data and metadata of the one or more objects from the storage system to an external storage. The policy includes a configurable criterion for decoupling of the content data and the metadata of a given object and a rule for determining storage locations for the content data and the metadata between the storage system and the external storage in a decoupled manner if the content data and the metadata of the object are decoupled. The configurable criterion is based on an attribute of the metadata of the object. The controller is operable to execute the policy against the objects and to apply the rule to determine storage locations for the content data and metadata of a decoupled object.