In one aspect of the present description, safe data commit scan operations of individual data storage systems of a distributed data storage system may be synchronized to reduce the occurrence of reductions in input/output (I/O) response times. In one embodiment, a set of safe data commit scan operations of the individual data storage systems of a distributed data storage system are synchronously timed to substantially overlap in time within a single synchronized safe data commit scan set interval to reduce or eliminate the occurrences of reductions in input/output response times outside the synchronized safe data commit scan set interval. Other features and aspects may be realized, depending upon the particular application.