Embodiments for managing metadata in a high density network attached storage system. A change file list is obtained though external or internal crawler processes. A slicer creates multiple slices of the entire fileshare to enable parallel backup of the slices. A backup engine creates a separate backup containers and separate metadata files for each slice. The individual metadata files are combined into a single consolidated metadata file, and the individual metadata files are then deleted. The consolidated metadata file contains all of the elements comprising the entire fileshare, and a corresponding container ID is also added to each entry of the file. Another table contains details of the sub-assets and their backup properties. A backup agent obtains the backup IDs for the individual sub-assets, using a job ID field for a backup query operating on the single consolidated metadata file.