An improved flash memory device and method for improving the performance and reliability of a flash memory device is provided. According to one embodiment, a method for writing data to a memory device may include writing the data to a temporary storage location within the memory device before the data is copied to another location within the memory device, incrementing a count value to indicate that the data has been copied, and repeating the step of writing, if the count value is less than a threshold value. If the count value is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the method may write the data to an external memory controller, where the data is checked for errors and corrected if an error is found, before the data is copied to the other location within the memory device.