Storage device with adaptive error-correcting code for improved areal efficiency

A method comprising:

• determining that a processor is in an idle state of input/output requests;
• determining that a first error number for first data written on a recording disk with a strong error-correcting code is above a first threshold error number;
• determining a set of bits based on the first data and the strong error-correcting code;
• writing the set of bits to the recording disk by applying a first phase shift to a write control signal;
• reading second data from the recording disk, the second data being the read written set of bits;
• comparing the second data to the set of bits;
• determining a second error number for the second data;
• comparing the second error number to a second threshold error number;
• and
• based on the comparing:
• writing the second data to the recording disk with a first error-correcting code;
• and
• freeing a region of the recording disk storing the strong error-correcting code.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions to manipulate a processor, the plurality of instructions comprising:

• instructions to determine that a processor is in an idle state of input/output requests;
• instructions to determine that a first error number for first data written on a magnetic hard disk with a strong error-correcting code is above a first threshold error number;
• instructions to determine a set of bits based on the first data and the strong error-correcting code;
• instructions to write the set of bits to the recording disk by apply a first phase shift to a write control signal;
• instructions to read second data from the recording disk, the second data being the read written set of bits;
• instructions to compare the second data to the set of bits;
• instructions to determine a second error number for the second data;
• instructions to compare the second error number to a second threshold error number;
• and
• instructions to write the second data to the magnetic hard disk with a first weak error-correcting code in response to the comparing.