In one embodiment of the present invention, systems and methods are provided through which the capacity of a defect buffer in a microcontroller of a mass storage device is determined without regard for the quantity of defects on a recording medium. The capacity of the defect buffer is determined in varying examples, based on the amount of available buffer space and/or the application of the storage device. In one embodiment, the capacity of the defect buffer is less than the quantity of defects on the recording medium, wherein entries in a defect table on the recording medium are swapped in and out of the defect buffer as needed, such as using a most-recently-used scheme. In another embodiment of the present invention, systems and methods are provided through which the defect table is partitioned into a plurality of segments that are physically distributed throughout the recording medium.