1. A method of determining a precedence for matching fingerprints of input data to an index of fingerprints identifying a plurality of instances of data in a compression history, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing, by a device having a compression history, an index that corresponds fingerprints of a plurality of portions of data of the compression history to location identifiers identifying locations in a storage element having the plurality of portions of data; (b) identifying, by the device, that a plurality of fingerprints of input data match a plurality of entries in the index having at least one location identifier; (c) selecting, by the device, an entry of the plurality of entries having a fewest number of location identifiers; and (d) matching, by the device, a first portion of the input data to data in a first location in the compression history identified by the selected entry.