A generic RAID engine system accepts an access request, accepts a metadata input comprising a layout description and, optionally, a plurality of resource optimization objectives, accepts a dynamic input comprising a dynamic state of an I/O stack comprising the generic RAID engine and a fault configuration of a plurality of storage devices in the I/O stack, and accepts RAID code input comprising information about the RAID code used by the I/O stack. The metadata input, the dynamic input, and the RAID code input are utilized to transform the access request into individual device reads and individual device writes such that RAID code relationships for the storage devices are maintained at all times. An optional optimizer module selects strategies that meet the resource optimization objectives.