An "erasure code " is an encoding of multiple different sets of data. Redundant copies of data are maintained in such erasure codes, thereby utilizing only a fraction of the storage capacity of unencoded copies. Erasure codes are efficiently generated, with a minimum of processing resources utilizing XOR functionality. Additionally, erasure codes are generated from local data, thereby avoiding the consumption of network resources. At least one unencoded copy of a set of data is maintained, while the remaining, redundant copies are encoded into erasure codes. Requests for data are provided from the unencoded copy. Should it fail, a new unencoded copy can be generated by another computing device having access to both an erasure code as well as unencoded copies of the other data that was also pressed into that erasure code. Multiple failures can be survived through recursive application of such a decoding of encoded data.