A storage-management apparatus and method that manages storage areas. The storage-management apparatus includes a collecting unit that collects valid-area-determination information items, each of which shows whether a corresponding one of the storage areas is a valid or invalid area, and timestamp information items, each of which shows that a corresponding one of the storage areas has been accessed. In accordance with the valid-area-determination information items and the timestamp information items, data from a storage area which is selected from among valid areas and whose timestamp information item is oldest is copied to a storage area which is selected from among invalid areas and whose timestamp information item is oldest, and timestamp information items and valid-area-determination information items concerning the storage area from which the data is copied and concerning the storage area to which the data is copied is updated.