Patent ID: 6384999
Filing Date: 2002-05-07
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A method for operating a disk drive, including recovering data from a marginally defective data site on a disk surface, wherein the hard disk drive employs a vector reassignment method to reassign data from defective data sites to spare data sites, the method comprising the steps of:determining the data site to be a marginally defective data site characterized by an increased recoverable error frequency as determined by a predefined performance threshold; first writing the block of data to a spare data site within a pool of spare data sites to create a conditional reassignment of the marginally defective data site when the predefined performance threshold is exceeded; then determining whether the marginally defective data site is a defective data site based upon an unsuccessful recovery operation; and if the marginally defective data site is a defective data site, then: marking the marginally defective data site as a defective data site; adding the defective data site to a list of defective data sites; updating a vector reassignment table to cross-reference the defective data site to the spare data site to finalize the reassignment.