The disclosure provides an approach for content based read cache (CBRC) digest file creation. Embodiments include determining a mapping between entries in a CBRC and physical block addresses (PBAs) associated with a source virtual machine (VM). Embodiments include creating a clone VM based on the source VM. Embodiments include, for each data block associated with the clone VM: determining a PBA associated with a logical block address (LBA) of the data block, determining, based on the mapping, whether data associated with the PBA is cached in the CBRC, and, if the data associated with the PBA is cached in the CBRC, copying a hash of the data from a first digest file of the source VM to a second digest file of the clone VM and associating the hash with the LBA in the second digest file.