1. A system for managing images of a storage object, the system comprising: a computer system configured for: generating a first image of the storage object; receiving new data relating to changes to the storage object occurring after the first image is generated; generating a first clone comprising a reference to the first image and the new data; generating a second image of the first clone; and deleting the first clone and the first image without first deleting the second image, the first image comprising a backing image of the first clone and the second image whereby a dependency exists between the first clone and the first image and a dependency exists between the second image and the first image based on the reference to the first image contained in the first clone.