The invention pertains to a method and apparatus for writing data to an array of Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) devices. In an embodiment of the invention a parity band configured to allow random access writes is provided. Next, data is appended sequentially to a stripe on an array of SMR devices. Then the parity band is updated to contain parity data consistent with the data appended to the stripe. In another embodiment of the invention, a shingled parity band is provided. Data is then appended sequentially to a stripe on an array of SMR devices without the user being required to write an entire stripe of data. The provided parity band is then updated to contain parity data consistent with the data that was appended to the stripe. In such an embodiment it is not always necessary to delete all of the parity data in the parity band when updating the parity band.