Patent ID: 7366825

Claim:
A method for accessing memory in a memory device, said method comprising: configuring said memory device to comprise a main memory portion and an auxiliary memory portion, wherein: each of said main memory portion and said auxiliary memory portion comprises a plurality of blocks of memory; each block comprises a plurality of pages of memory; and at least one page of each block comprises a status indicator stored therein indicative of a status of a block within which said at least one page is located; receiving a request to access a page located in said main memory portion; selecting a block from said main memory portion in which said requested page is located; determining a status of said selected block to be one of good and bad in accordance with a status indicator stored within a predetermined page of said selected block; for a determined status of good, providing access to said requested page located in said selected block in said main memory portion; for a determined status of bad, providing access to a corresponding page located in a designated block of said auxiliary memory portion in accordance with an address identifier stored within said predetermined page of said designated block, said address identifier being indicative of an address of said bad block.