A method, apparatus and program storage device for protecting data write operations against write failures in a data storage device is provided. The data storage device includes a storage medium, a write cache including a copy of data written to the storage medium, and a controller configured for testing data write operations to the storage medium. The controller tests data write operations to the storage medium before the write cache is flushed to confirm that it is safe to flush the write cache. If the test fails, the data in the write cache can be recovered.