Various embodiments for preserving data redundancy in a data deduplication system in a computing environment are provided. A write command is received for writing a selected data segment to a physical storage location. A determination is made as to whether the write command includes an indicator including at least one of a bit and a flag, the indicator designating that the selected data segment must not be subject to a deduplication operation. An indicator is configured by providing a system call with an extended attribute indicating that the selected data segment must be written to physical memory notwithstanding the selected data segment matching data written to the physical memory earlier in time.