A memory controller coupled to a memory device and configured to control access operations of the memory device includes a data protection engine and a microprocessor. The data protection engine is configured to generate protection information according to data received from a host device. The microprocessor is configured to detect a status of the memory device in response to one or more write operations for writing the data to the memory device, determine whether a portion of the data has to be excluded when generating the protection information corresponding to the data according to the status and accordingly generate a determination result, and store the protection information and the determination result together in the memory device. The determination result indicates which portion of the data is utilized to generate the protection information.