Adaptive write leveling in a memory system that includes a memory that has one or more limited lifetime memory devices and an adaptive write leveling module connected to the memory. The adaptive write leveling module is operative for monitoring a write data stream that includes write line addresses. A property of the write data stream is detected and a write leveling process is adapted in response to the detected property. The write leveling process is applied to the write data stream to generate physical addresses from the write line addresses.