Systems and methods for decoding a product code is provided. The system comprises a media, a first buffer, a second buffer, and a decoder. The media stores a plurality of codewords of a first code of the product code. The first buffer temporarily stores at least one codeword that has failed to be decoded. The second buffer temporarily stores soft information to be used in decoding. The decoder is configured to decode the plurality of codewords, determine if a first count of the at least one failed codeword exceeds a designed maximum number of codewords recoverable using the decoding method. In response to determining that the first count does not exceed the predefined threshold, the decoder iteratively process each failed codeword of the at least one failed codeword with the soft information, and attempt to decode at least one of each failed codeword that has been iteratively processed.