One embodiment provides a system which facilitates operation of a storage system. During operation, the system receives, by a storage engine, a request to write data to a hard disk drive. The system determines metadata associated with the data. The system stores the metadata in a volatile memory associated with the storage engine. The system identifies a physical address in a first non-volatile solid-state memory to which to write the metadata, wherein the first non-volatile solid-state memory is accessible via a controller of the hard disk drive. The system writes the metadata to the first non-volatile solid-state memory based on the physical address. The system writes the data to the hard disk drive.