Abstract: A disc storage apparatus includes at least one disc having at least one recording surface, at least one head associated with the at least one recording surface for recording data on the at least one recording surface, a decoder circuit which receives coded data from the at least one head, decodes the coded data to parallel data, and outputs the parallel data, and a disc control unit which receives the parallel data from the decoder circuit and outputs the parallel data outside the disc storage apparatus. The apparatus may further include a host interface control unit coupled to a host computer and the disc control unit, wherein the disc control unit outputs the parallel data to the host computer via the host interface control unit, and a buffer memory which stores the parallel data to be outputted to the host computer.

Abstract: A magnetic disc apparatus is a parallel recording type magnetic storage apparatus employing a dedicated servo system, wherein one of a plurality of data recording surfaces is used as a servo surface, the remaining even surfaces are used as ordinary recording surfaces, and the remaining one recording surface is used as a data recording surface which serves as a spare track or a spare sector when a defective track or a defective sector occurs. Since a microprocessor recognizes a defective track or a defective sector before writing data, if a defective track or a defective sector is produced, a normal track or sector is coupled with a spare track or a spare sector when a defective track or a defective sector is produced, and thereafter data is written into the magnetic storage apparatus.

Abstract: A data processing method of recording data on a recording medium mounted on an information recording apparatus. The data processing method includes the steps of dividing, in a disk controller, parallel data constituted by p bits transferred from a high-rank device into data each having q bits, where p and q are numbers; transferring the data each having q bits from the disk controller to an encoder as parallel data constituted by q bits; encoding, in the encoder, the data each having q bits to generate recording signals corresponding to data to be recorded; and recording the recording signals on the recording medium, thereby recording the data to be recorded on the recording medium.

Abstract: A disc storage apparatus includes at least one disc having at least one recording surface, a disc control unit for receiving a first number of write data, and outputting, through a plurality of lines, a second number of write data selected from the first number of write data, where the first number of write data and the second number of write data are each at least two write data, an encoder circuit coupled to the disc control unit through the plurality of lines for receiving the second number of write data from the disc control unit through the plurality of lines, encoding the second number of write data in parallel to produce coded data, and outputting the coded data for recording on the at least one recording surface, and a microprocessor for designating the second number of write data to be selected from the first number of write data, outputted by the disc control unit through the plurality of lines, and received by the encoder circuit from the disc control unit through the plurality of lines.

Abstract: A disc storage apparatus includes a disc having at least one recording surface, a head associated with the recording surface for recording data on the recording surface during a data write operation, and for reproducing data from the recording surface during a data read operation, a disc control unit for receiving data and outputting parallel data during the data write operation, and for receiving parallel data and outputting data during the data read operation, and an encoder/decoder circuit for receiving the parallel data from the disc control unit and outputting data to the head to be recorded on the recording surface during the data write operation, and for receiving from the head data reproduced from the recording surface and outputting parallel data to the disc control unit during the data read operation.