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3.3 Defect Management
3.3.1 Defect list
Information of the defect location on the disk is managed by the defect list. The following are
defect lists which the HDD manages.
• P list (Primary defect list): This list consists of defect location information available at the
disk drive shipment and is recorded in a system space. The defects in this list are permanent,
so the initiator must execute the alternate block allocation using this list when initializing the
disk.
• D list (Data defect list): This list consists of defect location information specified in a
FORMAT UNIT command by the initiator at the initialization of the disk. This information is
recorded in the system space of the HDD as the G list. To execute the alternate block
allocation, the FORMAT UNIT command must be specified.
• G list (Growth defect list): This list consists of defective logical data block location
information specified in a REASSIGN BLOCKS command by the initiator, information on
defective logical data blocks assigned alternate blocks by means of HDD automatic alternate
block allocation, and information specified as the D list. They are recorded in the system
space on the HDD.
The initiator can read out the contents of the P and G lists by the READ DEFECT DATA command.
3.3.2 Alternate block allocation
The alternate data block is allocated to a defective data block (= sectors) in defective sector units
by means of the defect management method inside the HDD. The initiator can access all logical
data blocks in the user space, as long as there is no error.
Spare sectors to which alternate blocks are allocated can be provided in "alternate cylinders". See
Subsection 3.1.2 for details.
Both of the following are applicable to the alternate block allocation.
• Sector slip treatment: Defective sectors are skipped and the logical data block corresponding
to those sectors is allocated to the next physical sectors. This treatment is made on the same
cell as the defective sector's and is effective until all spare sectors in that cell are used up.
• Alternate sector treatment: The logical data block corresponding to defective sectors is
allocated to unused spare sectors in the alternate cylinder.
40 C141-E270