A method of storing and retrieving digital files from a storage system comprising requesting one or more files through a server which compares the timestamp of each file to the present time to determine an elapsed time for each file. The server then requests a storage system for each file having an elapsed time less than or equal to a pre-determined time limit using an internal-retry request and requests from the storage system each file having an elapsed time greater than a pre-determined time limit using a fail-fast request.