Distributed storage systems frequently use a centralized metadata repository that stores metadata in an eventually consistent distributed database. However, a metadata repository cannot be relied upon for determining which erasure coded fragments are lost because of a storage node(s) failures. Instead, when recovering a failed storage node, a list of missing fragments is generated based on fragments stored in storage devices of available storage nodes. A storage node performing the recovery sends a request to one or more of the available storage nodes for a fragment list. The fragment list is generated, not based on a metadata database, but on scanning storage devices for fragments related to the failed storage node. The storage node performing the recovery merges retrieved lists to create a master list indicating fragments that should be regenerated for recovery of the failed storage node(s).