A method and apparatus for operating a storage system is disclosed. A root node has a first pointers to a plurality of lower nodes, the lower nodes having reference through a plurality of second pointers to point to blocks of persistent storage, the blocks of persistent storage storing data of the storage system. A persistent consistency point of the storage system is created at a selected time, the persistent consistency point created by creating a partial consistency point for one or more of the first pointers and second pointers to selected blocks of data. A statutes indicator is set to indicate that an identified partial consistency point is completed. All partial consistency points are coalesced into a final completed consistency point for the selected time after all of the partial consistency points reach a status of completed.