Parallel reconstruction of file components following a failure of one or more of the storage devices is implemented in the context of a storage system that includes a plurality of storage devices for storing file components and a plurality of metadata managers. A storage device having one or more unrecoverable read errors requiring reconstruction is identified. A metadata manager which will serve as a scheduler, and a plurality of metadata managers which serve as a plurality of workers, are identified. The plurality of workers includes metadata managers other than the scheduler. A scheduler service running on the metadata manager identified as the scheduler is used to construct a list of file components from the storage device affected by the one or more unrecoverable read errors requiring reconstruction. The scheduler service assembles a work list corresponding to each of a plurality of the workers. The work list for each worker includes a subset of file components from the list requiring reconstruction. The scheduler service instructs each worker to reconstruct data contained in the subset of file components on the work list of said worker. In response to the instructions from the scheduler service, the plurality of workers operates in parallel to reconstruct the data contained in the file components requiring reconstruction.