Patent ID: 8880981

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting an error in a data block specified by a data access request, wherein the data block is stored in a stripe of a parity group that includes a plurality of data storage devices to store data blocks and a parity storage device to store parity information for the data, wherein the stripe includes a data block from each of the plurality of data storage devices and the stripe includes a parity block from the parity storage device; and identifying the error as a lost write error for the data block or a lost write error for the parity block, wherein the identifying comprises, comparing a first storage device signature stored in a metadata field associated with the data block to a second storage device signature stored in a label block identifying a data storage device of the plurality of data storage devices where the data block is stored; and in response to the first storage device signature not matching the second storage device signature, identifying the error as the lost error for the data block.