A method to deduplicate data by receiving a data set, setting a data chunk size, selecting a first stage deduplication algorithm, and selecting a second stage deduplication algorithm, where the first stage deduplication algorithm differs from the second stage deduplication algorithm. The method selects a data chunk, where that data chunk comprises all or a portion of the data set, performs a first stage deduplication analysis of the data chunk using the first stage deduplication algorithm. If the first stage deduplication analysis indicates duplicate data, then the method performs a second state deduplication analysis of said data chunk using the second stage deduplication algorithm to verify the data as duplicate. Only if both data deduplication analysis indicate duplicate data the data chunk is replaced by a deduplication stub or reference to the identical data chunk which is already stored.