1. A method of reading data from and writing data to a memory device having an array of memory cells, comprising: coupling a memory write command to the memory device; coupling at least one M-bit word of write data to the memory device, where M is a positive integer; within the memory device, using N of the M-bit words to generate an error checking and correcting syndrome, where N is a positive integer greater than one; coupling at least a portion of the N M-bit words to the array of memory cells; storing the generated syndrome in the memory device; coupling a memory read command to the memory device; in response to the read command, coupling N M-bit words from the array of memory cells; within the memory device, using a syndrome corresponding to the N M-bit words coupled from the array of memory cells to determine if any of the bits of the N M-bit words coupled from the array of memory cells is in error; if any of the bits of the N M-bit words are determined to be in error, using the syndrome to correct each erroneous bit and provide corrected N M-bit words, and coupling at least one of the corrected N M-bit words from the memory device; and if any of the bits of the N M-bit words are not determined to be in error, coupling at least one of the N M-bit words coupled from the array of memory cells from the memory device.