Patent ID: 6445525
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A method for configuring a disc drive having a head which writes data to and retrieves data from a recording surface of a rotatable disc, comprising:identifying a total number of user data fields to meet a desired user data storage capacity for the recording surface, each user data field storing a selected number of user data bits, generating a preliminary zone table by distributing the total number of user data fields among a plurality of concentric data tracks and arranging the data tracks into a plurality of concentric zones, wherein the data tracks in each, respective zone have a common number of the user data fields and have different data densities for a selected first write frequency for each respective zone, said different data densities selected in relation to a desired data density profile across the recording surface; and providing a final zone table by selecting a second write frequency for each zone equal or less than the first write frequency that will achieve the selected data storage capacity of each track in said zone, thereby reducing data density of at least selected tracks.