1. A method comprising; receiving a read directory request, the read directory request corresponding to a directory associated with a plurality of files, wherein the plurality of files are optimized using mechanisms including deduplication; populating a client side cache with metadata fetched from a metadata database for the plurality of files in the directory upon receiving the read directory request; receiving a subsequent read directory request; determining whether metadata needed to respond to the subsequent read directory request is available in the client side cache; accessing a metadata database if the metadata is not available in the client side cache; comparing timestamps to determine whether an entry in the metadata database is valid, wherein if the entry is not valid, the subsequent read directory request is handled by accessing metadata included in the plurality of files that are optimized using mechanisms including deduplication and maintained using a suitcase file.