A disk drive system including one or more platters, each platter supporting at least one recording surface, where the platters are aligned about a common central axis. The platters spin about the common central axis. A recording head is associated with each recording surface. An actuator mechanism couples to each recording head to move the recording head into proximity with selected portions of the recording surface in response to received commands. At least two replicates of data are stored in at least two data storage areas such that any one of the at least two replicates can be accessed to service a data access request.