A disk image is generated, stored in at least one persistent storage device, comprises at least one software application, and is a root disk image. An inheritance tree comprising a root node associated with the root disk image is created. A new disk image of a disk is generated based on a previously generated disk image associated with a node of the inheritance tree. The new disk image is stored in at least one persistent storage device, and comprises at least one software application of the previously generated disk image and at least one new software application. The new disk image shares at least one data block of the previously generated disk image. A new node is added to the inheritance tree, and is associated with the new disk image. The new node is a child node of the node that is associated with the previously generated disk image.