Abstract: Decoding power is enhanced by (1) flagging only those codewords where the ECC capability has been exceeded; (2) permitting codewords to be of any byte length (n) and codeword depth (.lambda.) subject only to the requirement that n and .lambda. be relatively prime; and (3) interleaving encoded bytes of successive codewords diagonally in a single continuous sequence to form an array with a toroidal topology so that all burst errors will be continuous from codeword to codeword, irrespective of where they occur in the array. These attributes assure that there will never be a problem with burst errors affecting.ltoreq..lambda. rows because there is no "last row" and "first row".