1. A method to manage access to a memory array, comprising: encoding a bit string with a rank metric code encoder to generate a rank metric codeword comprising an encoded binary array, wherein the rank metric codeword is an error-correcting codeword; modifying the encoded binary array so each row of the encoded binary array has at most half of the row with a first bit value and each column of the encoded binary array has at most half of the column with the first bit value; and storing the modified binary array into corresponding memory devices of the memory array.