A method of operating an integrated circuit which includes an input module, an output module, and a processing module coupled to the input module and the output module. The method includes, in the input module, receiving a first data segment; in the processing module, reading a hard coded identifier from an identifier module coupled to the processing module, processing the first data segment with the hard coded identifier to generate a first encoded data segment; and in the output module, transferring the first encoded data segment for storage on a storage system.