1. A method operative within a set of data stores in which data blocks and their associated recovery blocks are stored using an erasure encoding and decoding scheme comprising: (a) providing a processor; (b) providing a memory interoperably coupled to the processor and having computer software code stored thereon; (c) using the processor and the memory in combination to perform at least one of steps (d)-(g); (d) initializing a counter; (e) storing a sequence number in a data structure having positions corresponding to the data blocks and their associated recovery blocks; (f) as a given data block is changed, (i) incrementing the counter, (ii) assigning a value of the counter to a then current sequence number at a position associated with the given data block, and (iii) assigning the value of the counter to a then current sequence number at each position in the data structure associated with a recovery value; (g) upon a given failure event, using the sequence numbers in the data structure to recover a data set associated with the sequence numbers in the data structure.