Patent ID: 7890815

Claim:
A RAID system, comprising: an array of disk storage drives; an RAID array controller operable to receive first data from a host; a parity generator operable to generate a first checksum associated with first data; a data write module operable to write data, including the first data and the first checksum, to the array in a full stride write; a dropped write check module operable to periodically check the written data to determine whether a dropped write event has occurred; and a data state module operable to: classify a state of the first data as being in a first “new data, unconfirmed” state when the first data is written to the array; change the state of the first data from the first state to a second “single dropped write confirmed” state if a dropped write event is detected during a periodic check; change the state of the first data from the first state to a third “confirmed good” state if no dropped write event is detected during a periodic check; receive second data from the host; if the second data is to be written to the storage device in a full stride write, generate at least a second checksum and write the second data and the at least second checksum to the storage device in a full stride write; and if the second data is to be written to the storage device in a read modify write (RMW): generate at least one RMW checksum and write the second data and the at least one RMW checksum to the storage device in a read modify write; and change the state of the second data from the second state to a fourth “unquantifyable” state.