Atomic write operations for storage devices are implemented by maintaining the data that would be overwritten in the cache until the write operation completes. After the write operation completes, including generating any related metadata, a checkpoint is created. After the checkpoint is created, the old data is discarded and the new data becomes the current data for the affected storage locations. If an interruption occurs prior to the creation of the checkpoint, the old data is recovered and any new is discarded. If an interruption occurs after the creation of the checkpoint, any remaining old data is discarded and the new data becomes the current data. Write logs that indicate the locations affected by in progress write operation are used in some implementations. If neither all of the new data nor all of the old data is recoverable, a predetermined pattern can be written into the affected locations.