Abstract: A method to and apparatus for communicating formatted data from mass storage media to a host computer is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment data is received through a serial digital signal processor (DSP) from an optical compact disk. The method and apparatus separates data bytes from auxiliary bytes, and stores them into separate and specific spaces within a DRAM. Error correction is performed after each block of data has been stored. After a given block has been verified, the system controller records the block number. The method and apparatus reduces the amount of address storage required to locate valid blocks of data in the DRAM. The method of the present invention increases the effective rate of transfer of data from the DRAM to a host computer.