Devices, systems and methods for improving a decoding operation in a non-volatile memory are described. An example method includes performing a first hard read to obtain a first set of values stored in a plurality of cells, storing the first set of values in a first buffer, performing a plurality of subsequent hard reads on the plurality of cells to obtain a plurality of subsequent sets of values, performing, for each subsequent set of values, the following operations: computing a quality metric, storing, in a second buffer, a difference between the subsequent set of values and the set of values stored in the first buffer, wherein the difference is stored in a compressed format, and storing, in response to the quality metric exceeding a threshold, the subsequent set of values in the first buffer, and generating, based on the first buffer and the second buffer, the log-likelihood ratio.