In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a headerized SDS protected by unequal error protection; decoding a header from the headerized SDS and removing an impact of the header from C1 row parity to obtain a SDS; for a number of iterations: performing C2 column decoding, for no more than a number of interleaves in each row of the SDS: overwriting a number of columns with successfully decoded C2 codewords, erasing a number of C2 codewords, and maintaining remaining columns as uncorrected, performing C1 row decoding; for no more than a number of interleaves in each row of the SDS: overwriting a number of rows with successfully decoded C1 codewords, erasing a number of C1 codewords, and maintaining remaining rows as uncorrected; and outputting the SDS when all rows include only C1 codewords and all columns include only C2 codewords; otherwise, outputting indication that the SDS cannot be decoded properly.