Patent ID: 7050249

Claim:
A method for processing track identification data in a disk drive comprising a plurality of concentric tracks, each track comprising a track identification field stored in a plurality of embedded servo sectors, each track identification field comprising a band segment identifying a group of tracks, and an index segment identifying a single track of the group of tracks, the method comprising: reading a servo sector to obtain the track identification field; parsing the track identification field to obtain the band segment; comparing the obtained band segment to an expected band segment to obtain a band segment differential; initiating a first action if the band segment differential exceeds a first pre-determined threshold and varies from the expected band segment by a first pre-determined number of bits; and initiating a second action if the band segment differential exceeds the first predetermined threshold and does not vary from the expected band segment by the first pre-determined number of bits; obtaining the index segment from the parsed track identification field; comparing the obtained index segment to an expected index segment to obtain an index segment differential; and initiating a third action if the index segment differential exceeds a second pre-determined threshold and varies from the expected index segment by a second pre-determined number of bits; and initiating a fourth action if the index segment differential exceeds the second predetermined threshold and does not vary from the expected index segment by the second pre-determined number of bits.