Aligned data storage for network attached media streaming systems

A server for transmitting and receiving data packets corresponding to one or more streaming data sessions between one or more playback devices over at least one network connection, the server comprising:

• a traffic manager adapted to, for a write operation of received data corresponding to the one or more data sessions, i) determine one or more header fields of the received data, and ii) provide a write request to a RAID control module;
• a control processor adapted to perform processing on the received data;
• a shared memory adapted to buffer received data;
• a storage medium adapted to store media files corresponding to the one or more data sessions, wherein the storage medium is a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) array having one or more stripe sector units (SSU);
• the RAID control module configured to receive a request to perform the write operation to the RAID array beginning at a starting data storage address (DSA);
• means for padding the data of the write operation if the amount of data is less than a full SSU of data, such that the padded data of the write operation is a full SSU of data, wherein the RAID control module includes means for causing storage of the full SSU of data beginning at a starting data storage address (DSA) that is aligned with a second SSU boundary, without performing a read-modify-write operation.