Patent ID: 6223303
Filing Date: 2001-04-24
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
A method of operating a disk drive having data sites on a disk for recording data thereon, the disk being connectable to a host computer wherein the disk drive maintains a defect table comprising defective sites reportable to the host computer, the method comprising the steps of:discovering a defective data site on the disk;bounding the defective data site with a first tier of marginal data sites which are selected based on their proximity to the defective data site;bounding the first tier of marginal data sites with a second tier of reserved data sites which are selected based on their proximity to the first tier of marginal data sites;storing the location of the defective data site, the first tier of marginal data sites and the second tier of reserved data sites in the defect table;marking the defective data site and the first tier of marginal data sites as defective sites reportable to the host;allocating a plurality of data sites which are not included within the first tier of marginal data sites or second tier of reserved data sites as spare data sites; andwherein the second tier of reserved data sites are neither allocated as normal data sites, spare data sites, or defective data sites.