Data scrubbing is an error correction technique that uses a background task to periodically inspect main memory or storage for errors, then corrects detected errors using redundant data in the form of different checksums or copies of data. Data scrubbing reduces the likelihood that single correctable errors will accumulate, leading to reduced risks of uncorrectable errors.
Data integrity is a high-priority concern in writing, reading, storage, transmission, or processing of data in computer operating systems and in computer storage and data transmission systems. However, only a few of the currently existing and used file systems provide sufficient protection against data corruption.[1][2][3]
To address this issue, data scrubbing provides routine checks of all inconsistencies in data and, in general, prevention of hardware or software failure. This "scrubbing" feature occurs commonly in memory, disk arrays, file systems, or FPGAs as a mechanism of error detection and correction.[4][5][6]