Sector architecture for fixed block disk drive.

A SECTOR SERVO, ZONE BIT RECORDING DISK DRIVE (202) INCLUDES A SECTOR ARCHITECTURE IN WHICH THE RECORDING HEAD (208) LOCATES AND IDENTIFIES DATA SECTORS (254) WITHOUT USING DATA ID FIELDS, BUT INSTEAD USING INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM ELECTRONIC STORAGE AND FROM SERVO SECTORS (220) WHICH NEED NOT BE ADJACENT TO THE DATA SECTORS. THE TRACKS (218) CONTAIN SERVO INFORMATION AND DATA, BUT NOT DATA SECTOR ID INFORMATION. THE TRACKS IN EACH ZONE ARE CIRCUMFERENTIALLY DIVIDED INTO SEGMENTS (304, 381, 382, 383). INCLUDED IN EACH SEGMENT IS A NUMBER OF DATA REGIONS (306, 308, 309) SEPARATED FROM ONE ANOTHER BY SERVO SECTORS (310, 312, 314). THE DATA REGIONS MAY CONTAIN PARTIAL DATA SECTORS AND COMPLETE DATA SECTORS. THE FORMAT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO IDENTIFY AND LOCATE DATA SECTORS, INCLUDING ONES WHOSE REGION LOCATIONS ARE .NOT ADJACENT TO SERVO SECTORS, INCLUDES AN ENTRY FOR EACH REGION IN THE SECTION. EACH ENTRY INCLUDES THE LENGTHS OF THE FIRST AND LAST DATA SECTIONS IN THE REGION, WHETHER THE SECTORS REPRESENTED BY THOSE SECTIONS ARE SPLIT BETWEEN TWO REGIONS, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF DATA SECTORS IN THE REGION, AND THE SECTOR NUMBER OF THE FIRST DATA SECTOR IN THE REGION. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE SERVO SECTORS CONSISTS OF A SERVO SECTOR NUMBER OR OTHER INDICIA WHICH ENABLES THE DISK DRIVE TO DETERMINE THE POSITION OF THE RECORDING HEAD AND BEGIN READING OR WRITING IMMEDIATELY UPON SETTLING ON-TRACK AND WITHOUT INCURRING A LATENCY PENALTY.FIGURE 2