Data integrity validation in storage systems

A data storage system comprising:

• at least a first disk drive for storing first data in at least a first data chunk in response to a write request to store the first data on the first disk drive, wherein the first data chunk is a logical representation of one or more sectors on at least the first disk drive in a storage system;
• a first appendix for storing first metadata, associated with the first data, in response to the same write request, wherein the first appendix is a logical representation of a sector region on at least the first disk drive in the storage system, and wherein the first metadata comprises first atomicity metadata (AMD) and first validity metadata (VMD) associated with the first data;
• and
• at least one low latency non-volatile storage (LLNVS) devices for storing a copy of the first VMD for the first data in response to the same write request, so that when an error associated with content in the first chunk or the first appendix is detected during a read request for the first data, the copy of first VMD stored in the LLNVS device can be accessed with a low level of latency for the purpose of comparison with the first VMD stored in the first appendix to determine whether the data written during the write request is the same as the data read during the read request,
• wherein said storing of the first data, the first metadata and the one or more copies of the first VMD is performed prior to retrieval of the first metadata from the first appendix, wherein the retrieval is performed subsequent to said write request.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored thereon, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

• store first data in at least a first data chunk in response to a write request to store the first data on a first disk drive, wherein the first data chunk is a logical representation of one or more sectors on at least the first disk drive in a storage system;
• store first metadata, associated with the first data, in at least a first appendix in response to the same write request, wherein the first appendix is a logical representation of a sector region on at least the first disk drive in the storage system, and wherein the first metadata comprises first atomicity metadata (AMD) and first validity metadata (VMD) associated with the first data, wherein the AMD comprises one or more of cyclic redundancy check (CRC) metadata or longitudinal redundancy check (CRC) metadata;
• and
• store a plurality of copies of the first VMD for the first data in a plurality of low latency non-volatile storage (LLNVS) device in response to the same write request, so that when an error associated with content in the first chunk or the first appendix is detected during a read request for the first data, the copy of first VMD stored in the LLNVS device can be accessed with a low level of latency for the purpose of comparison with the first VMD stored in the first appendix to determine whether the data written during the write request is the same as the data read during the read request,
• wherein said storing of the first data, the first metadata and the one or more copies of the first VMD is performed prior to retrieval of the first metadata from the first appendix, wherein the retrieval is performed subsequent to said write request.