Various embodiments of the present invention that include receive a signal indicating a loss of power, start a timer, the timer configured to expire after a specific time period, copy write cache data from the volatile memory to a solid state device (SSD), upon receiving the signal indicating the loss of power to the storage system, configure the SSD as both a read cache and the write cache, perform a health test on the storage system, determine the loss of power as a false alarm if the timer expires and the storage system passes a health test on the storage system upon receiving the signal indicating the loss of power, and upon the timer expiring and the storage system passing the health test, copy the write cache data from the SSD back to the volatile memory.