Patent ID: 8015350

Claim:
A method comprising steps of: storing in a memory space quality of service (QOS) data associated with each of a plurality of physical data storage blocks in the memory space available to store user data for a host device; performing certification testing on less than all of the data storage blocks during manufacturing of a data storage device to provide a first subset of tested data storage blocks with a certification state indication in said QOS data and a second subset of untested data storage blocks having a non-certified state; and releasing the device to an end user with both the first subset of tested data storage blocks as well as the second subset of a remaining number of untested data storage blocks having the non-certified state indication in the QOS data, and subsequently performing certification testing on at least one of the remaining number of untested data storage blocks to maintain at least a predetermined percentage of a total number of unused tested data storage blocks that have a certification state indication in the QOS data.