1. A method of processing data in a computer system comprising at least one host and at least one content addressable storage system which stores data for the at least one host, wherein the at least one host accesses data units stored on the at least one storage system using content addresses generated based on the content of the data units, the method comprising an act of: (a) in response to an access request from the at least one host computer for a unit of data identified by a content address, parsing the content address to determine at least one aspect of a physical storage location for the unit of data on the at least one storage system.