Described are techniques for processing data requests in connection with an I/O operation. A write data request is sent from a host to a target data storage system. The host performs a data validation, such as a checksum calculation, using the data of the data request. The data request is sent to the target data storage system. The target data storage system may be enabled to perform data validation processing on a per device basis by setting one or more device flag bits for a device. The target data storage system performs data validation processing in accordance with the flag bit settings of a device associated with a data request. A target checksum value using the data received on the target data storage system is determined and compared to the host checksum value in order to determined data validity. Data recovery processing is performed if data corruption is determined. A partial write of the data requested may be performed for those data portions occurring prior to the corrupted data that have been successfully validated.