Methods, solid state drive controllers and data storage devices having a runtime variable raid protection scheme

A method of controlling a data storage device, the data storage device comprising a processor, the processor being configured to couple to an array of flash memory devices, the array comprising a plurality of dies, each die comprising a plurality of flash blocks (F-Blocks), each F-Block comprising a plurality of flash pages (F-Pages), at least some of the F-Page comprising at least one error correcting code page (E-Page), and at least some of the E-Pages comprising a variably-sized error correction code (ECC) portion and a corresponding variably-sized data portion, the variably-sized data portions within one F-Page defining, in the aggregate, an F-Page data portion, the method comprising:

• defining an S-Page that comprises a plurality of F-Pages from one or more of the plurality of dies;
• within the S-Page,
• storing an E-Page error correction code within the variably-sized ECC portion of each E-Page within the F-Pages to correct an error within the corresponding variably-sized data portion;
• designating at least one F-Page having a largest size F-Page data portion among the F-Pages in the S-Page as a Check Page;
• and
• storing a cross-F-Page error correction code within the at least one Check Page.

A method of controlling a data storage device, the data storage device comprising a flash controller and an array of flash memory devices coupled to the flash controller, the array comprising a plurality of S-Pages that each comprise a plurality of F-Pages, the method comprising:

• storing, in each of the plurality of F-Pages, a variable amount of data and a variable amount of error correction code;
• generating an error correction code across each F-Page of an S-Page;
• and
• storing the generated error correction code within at least one F-Page having a largest amount of data.