Patent ID: 8014245

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, with a controller, a first defect of a data storage medium; selecting, via the controller, a format of an entry for a defect description table based on the first defect from one of at least three formats determined to result in a least number of entries in the defect description table; and storing, via the controller, a description of the first defect in the entry for the defect description table in a first format of the at least three formats, wherein a format comprises a set of defined fields to store data in, and wherein the first format comprises: a field for storing data that represents a track identification; multiple fields for storing data that each represent a starting position of one of multiple, non-adjacent defects on a second track; and multiple fields for storing data that each represent a number of defective consecutive sectors after a specific starting position of one of the multiple, non-adjacent defects on the second track.