According to one embodiment, in response to a request to write a prime segment of a file system of a storage system having a plurality of storage units, one or more of the storage units are identified based on a prime segment write-map (PSWM). The PSWM includes information indicating which of the storage units to which a next prime should be written. The prime segment is then written in the one or more storage units identified from the PSWM, without writing the prime segment to a remainder of the storage units. The prime segment represents at least a portion of a prime that contains metadata representing a consistent point of data stored in the file system.