Managing reference count increments

A computerized apparatus, comprising control circuitry that includes a set of processors coupled to memory, the control circuitry constructed and arranged to:

• record a plurality of increfs in a plurality of record structures, each of the plurality of record structures provided for storing one or more increfs of a single respective virtual-block entry of a metadata page, at least one of the record structures allocated from a free-record bin in memory;
• in response to an occurrence of a change condition, move the plurality of increfs from the plurality of record structures to a set of range structures, each of the set of range structures provided for storing one or more increfs for a respective range of multiple contiguous virtual-block entries of the metadata page;
• and
• add the plurality of record structures to the free-record bin.

A computer program product including a set of non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions which, when executed by control circuitry of a computerized apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to perform a method of managing increfs (reference-count increments) of virtual-block entries of a metadata page, the method comprising:

• recording a plurality of increfs in a plurality of record structures, each of the plurality of record structures provided for storing one or more increfs of a single respective virtual-block entry of the metadata page, at least one of the record structures allocated from a free-record bin in memory;
• in response to an occurrence of a change condition, moving the plurality of increfs from the plurality of record structures to a set of range structures, each of the set of range structures provided for storing one or more increfs for a respective range of multiple contiguous virtual-block entries of the metadata page;
• and
• adding the plurality of record structures to the free-record bin.