a method and system of managing spatially related defects on a data storage media surface in a data storage device includes operations of identifying defect locations on the media surface , determining whether the location of an identified defect is within a predetermined window of another identified defect location on the media surface , if the location is within the predetermined window , characterizing the defects in the window as a scratch . a scratch - tracking table is then generated having a unique entry for each scratch and a start index and an end index for each scratch . also , a scratch index table is generated that lists each and every defect location on the media along with its defect index and the scratch index associating the particular defect with an identified scratch . these two tables are then utilized to pad the scratches . a variant of the method includes iteratively processing through caches in the event that limited buffer memory is available to the device controller or large numbers of defect locations are identified during certification testing .