According to one embodiment, a disk device includes a disk, a head that performs data read/write processing on a recording region of the disk, a controller that performs a media scan processing for detecting the presence or absence of a defect in a sector in the recording region of the disk in track unit. When the controller performs the media scan processing on a first sector and a second sector arranged in the track, and a third sector arranged between the first sector and the second sector, the controller performs skip processing in which the controller scans the first sector and the second sector, and does not scan the third sector.

According to one embodiment, a defect registration method includes measuring, performing first extracting, and registering. The measuring is measuring, on a unit-area basis, performance of a storage area of a magnetic disk including a plurality of unit areas. The storage area includes a redundant area of a set capacity. The first extracting includes second extracting one or more unit areas in order of increasing the performance. The registering is registering the extracted unit areas of the set capacity as defect locations.

A storage control device configured to control a storage device including a plurality of groups each of which includes a plurality of storage regions, the storage control device includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to store, into the memory, information associated with each of the plurality of groups and indicating whether an error region in which an error is detected is included in at least one of the plurality of storage regions of each of the plurality of groups, identify a first group including the error region from the plurality of groups based on the information associated with the plurality of groups, read data from a plurality of storage regions included in the identified first group, and identify the error region included in the first group based on the read data.

A computer-implemented method for determining a damaged area of a magnetic tape loaded in a tape drive, according to one embodiment, includes: determining a first error location on a magnetic tape where a first error occurred in response to experiencing the first error. Moreover, the method includes determining one or more areas on the magnetic tape to be examined. The one or more areas are determined using a predetermined algorithm which incorporates the first error location. Independent of a read and/or write operation, relative motion is induced between a tape head and the magnetic tape such that the tape head is positioned adjacent to each of the respective one or more areas in turn. Furthermore, each of the one or more areas having a respective number of measured servo errors which exceeds a threshold value is identified as a damaged area of the magnetic tape.

A method for performing a flaw scan test on a hard disk drive is disclosed. The hard disk drive includes a magnetic recording medium and spindle motor associated with a predetermined rated speed. The method includes writing a test pattern to the magnetic recording medium while operating the spindle motor at a speed greater than the predetermined rated speed. The method also includes reading the test pattern at the greater speed and detecting flaws in response to reading the test pattern.

A computer-implemented method, according to one embodiment, includes: detecting a first error while accessing a magnetic tape, determining a first error location on the magnetic tape where the first error occurred, determining one or more areas on the magnetic tape to be examined, independent of a read and/or write operation, inducing relative motion between a tape head and the magnetic tape such that the tape head is positioned adjacent to each of the respective one or more areas in turn, using the tape head to measure a number of servo errors that occur in each of the respective one or more areas, and identifying each of the one or more areas having a respective number of measured servo errors which exceeds a threshold value as a damaged area of the magnetic tape. The one or more areas are determined using a predetermined algorithm which incorporates the first error location.

A tape drive system for ensuring tape data integrity by tape surface inspection, the tape drive system being configured for reading and writing data from/to a magnetic tape, is provided. The tape drive system includes a laser inspection unit comprising a sender and a receiver integrated into the tape drive system, wherein the laser inspection unit configured for recognizing a tape defect by scanning the magnetic tape when the tape drive system is in operation. The tape drive system includes a read/write head configured for acting together with the laser inspection unit as sensors for providing sensor data during a read/write operation of the tape drive system, a communication link between the sensors and a controller unit for exchanging sensor data. The controller is configured for evaluating sensor data and for triggering predefined actions based on the respective evaluation results such that the tape data integrity is ensured.

A method for scanning for flaws on a magnetic recording medium is disclosed. The magnetic recording medium has a first set of nonconsecutive data tracks and a second set of nonconsecutive data tracks. The method includes writing a test pattern to only the first set of nonconsecutive data tracks of the magnetic recording medium, reading of the test pattern written to the first set of nonconsecutive data tracks, and identifying flaws within the first set of nonconsecutive data tracks and the second set of nonconsecutive data tracks based on the reading the test pattern.

According to one embodiment, physical position information on errors on a recording medium is acquired, physical position relationship between the errors on the recording medium is calculated based on the position information, and a failure mode related to the errors is determined based on the position relationship.

A computer program product, according to one embodiment, includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith. The computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se. Moreover, the program instructions are executable by a controller to cause the controller to: detect, by the controller, a change in a resistance value of at least one of a plurality of detector structures, for identifying a defect on a magnetic medium. Each of the detector structures includes a pair of conductive layers separated by an insulating material. Moreover, none of the detector structures include an operable reader for reading data from a magnetic medium. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.