Robust header configuration and method for reading sector identifiers contained therein

A storage media for use in a data storage system, comprising:

• a storage substrate having a storage surface with a plurality of groove tracks and land tracks, the storage surface having a plurality of storage sectors for storing data with each storage sector comprising a header and a data storage field;
• wherein the header is configured to have a plurality of repeated address blocks;
• and
• wherein each of the plurality of address blocks comprise an address mark, an address field, and a error check field, the address field made up of a plurality of biphase cells to store a sector address in a biphase data format and the address mark made up of a distinct signal not found in the address field.

A method of configuring a storage media for robust addressing, comprising:

• defining a plurality of storage sectors on the storage media;
• defining a header field with each storage sector;
• and
• embossing a plurality of address blocks within the defined header field, each address block beginning with at least one address mark having a predetermined configuration, followed by an address field made up of a plurality of biphase cells, each biphase cell having a mark and a space with a transition in substantially the center thereof, the address block ending with an error detection code.