Patent ID: 7389468

Claim:
A method for writing a user data block to an array of A storage fields of a probe-based data storage device in which data is written to the array of storage fields by a corresponding array of probes, the method comprising: coding the user data block to produce a plurality of C-byte codewords such that r*C=k 1 *A where r is the number of codewords and k 1 is an integer>1; producing A sub-blocks of k 1 bytes from the codewords by selecting successive bytes of each sub-block cyclically from the r codewords; and writing the A sub-blocks via respective probes to the corresponding storage fields of the storage field array, such that the codewords are distributed across the A storage fields of the storage array, with bytes from the same codeword always being r bytes apart; wherein by appropriate selection of the values of r and C in the coding process, the system can be employed with any array size A and can accommodate any size of user data block.