Error correction method and apparatus

摘要

A magnetic disk storage device employing an on-the-fly, multiple burst error correction system for detecting and correcting errors in data sectors stored on a magnetic disk, wherein each data sector comprises a data field and multiple sync marks for synchronizing to the data field. Multiple sync marks improve the probability of successful byte synchronization to the data field in the presence of noise in the system, such as defects in the storage medium. Further, a sync mark may be embedded within the data field to facilitate byte resynchronization when synchronization is lost.