Patent ID: 7599261

Claim:
A method for storing data on a removable storage media in order to improve subsequent data access reliability, comprising steps of: logically dividing the removable storage media into at least three zones, including a first zone, a second zone and a third zone, by writing header information into each of the at least three zones; receiving data to be stored on the removable storage media; writing the data to the first zone; and writing duplicate copies of the data to the second zone and the third zone; reading first zone data from the first zone to establish first zone read data; reading second zone data from the second zone to establish second zone read data; comparing the first zone read data and the second zone read data and if they match, presenting one of the first zone read data and the second zone read data as good data; and if the first zone read data and the second zone read data do not match, (i) reading next zone data from a next zone of the at least three zones and determining if a majority of zones read have matching data and if so, presenting one of the majority of zones read as good data and if not, repeating step (i).