1. A method of managing a file system having an address space, comprising: providing multiple subspaces within the address space of the file system, each subspace having defined boundaries within the address space and having provisioned thereto a respective, distinct set of storage elements derived from one or more physical storage devices, the multiple subspaces including: a data subspace having provisioned thereto a set of data storage elements on which host data of the file system are stored, but on which no inodes of the file system or MDBs (metadata blocks, including indirect blocks and directories) of the file system are stored; an inode subspace having provisioned thereto a set of inode storage elements on which inodes of the file system are stored, but on which no host data of the file system or MDBs of the file system are stored; and an MDB subspace having provisioned thereto a set of MDB storage elements on which indirect blocks and/or directories of the file system are stored, but on which no host data of the file system or inodes of the file system are stored, and further comprising, for a set of user data: provisioning a new data storage element to the data subspace of the file system; storing the set of user data in the new data storage element; storing a set of inodes pertaining to the set of user data in an inode storage element within the inode subspace of the file system; and storing a set of indirect blocks and/or directory structures pertaining to the set of user data in an MDB storage element within the MDB subspace of the file system, wherein the file system is supported by a sparse volume, and wherein provisioning a new data storage element to the data subspace of the file system includes (i) provisioning the new data storage element to the sparse volume from a storage pool and (ii) provisioning the new data storage element to the data subspace of the file system from the sparse volume.