Minimal and maximal numbers are established defining two levels of retry attempts to read system information from a storage medium. Multiple copies of the system information are stored on the storage medium. Attempts are made to successively read the copies until either the system information is successfully read or the system information is not successfully read from any copy of the system information after the minimal number of attempts on each copy. If the system information is not successfully read, attempts are made to successively read the copies until either the system information is successfully read or the system information is not successfully read from any copy of the system information after the maximal number of attempts.