Abstract: Described are a system and method for improving the performance of a disk drive in a data storage system by enabling the disk drive to “ride through” events that can induce disk drive errors. In response to an error message received from a disk drive, a disk director temporarily places the disk drive into a wait state. While in the wait state, the disk drive is prevented from shutting down, despite the current error and any subsequent errors that the disk drive may experience. The disk drive may continue to service I/O requests while in the wait state, with the disk director monitoring the disk drive performance. After the disk drive exits the wait state, the disk director can determine from the monitored results whether to shut down the disk drive or to permit the disk drive to return to normal operation.