Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk comprising a plurality of tracks, and a head actuated over the disk. One of the tracks is read to generate a read signal, and a noise signal is injected into the read signal to generate a noisy read signal. An off-track read capability (OTRC) is measured based on the noisy read signal, and a parameter of the disk drive is adjusted based on the OTRC.

Abstract: A data storage device may comprise a disk comprising a plurality of zones, each comprising a plurality of data tracks, a head having a reader spaced away from a writer by a gap, and a controller. The controller may be configured to, upon detecting a media defect in one of the zones: determine a width of data tracks in the zone in which the media defect is detected; calculate a minimum number of contiguous tracks in the zone in which the media defect is detected whose aggregate width is at least as great as the gap between the reader and writer; and margin the detected media defect with a number of tracks immediately adjacent to the detected media defect that is at least equal to the calculated minimum number of contiguous tracks.