Data storage and retrieval systems and related methods are disclosed herein. In one aspect, a system includes data processing servers configured to receive incoming data and transmit the data for storage. The system also includes data storage servers each coupled to one or more data storage units and configured to receive transmitted data for writing to the one or more data storage units, and to read data from the one or more data storage units. Furthermore, the systems may include data retrieval servers coupled to one or more of the data storage servers and configured to retrieve data from the one or more data storage units. The system further includes process modules each associated with one of the data storage servers, where at least two of the process modules are configured to write a portion of the data to corresponding data storage units. In addition, each of the process modules are configured to transmit an acknowledgment associated with each of the corresponding at least two data storage units upon the writing of the data portion in the at least two data storage units. Furthermore, some embodiments may include a key manager coupled to the data processing servers and configured to receive keys that indicate the location of the data portions in the one or more data storage units. Additionally, each data retrieval server may be coupled to the key manager and employ the keys to retrieve data from the one or more data storage units.