generating, by a processor, a plurality of containers comprising data containers storing segments of files, segment tree containers storing upper-level segments of segment trees representing the files, and cloud containers storing headers from the data and segment tree containers, wherein a header for a data container comprises fingerprints identifying the segments of files stored in the data container, and a header for a segment tree container comprises fingerprints identifying the upper-level segments stored in the segment tree container;

sending to a cloud storage for storage as a cloud unit the plurality of containers;

attaching the cloud unit to a deduplicated storage appliance by storing in local storage of the appliance the segment tree and cloud containers, cloud configuration details, and an index, the cloud configuration details identifying the cloud storage having the cloud unit, and the index mapping the fingerprints to the containers;

determining that the cloud unit should be detached; and

based on the determination, detaching the cloud unit from the appliance by deleting the segment tree and cloud containers, and index from the local storage, but maintaining the cloud configuration details.