Method and apparatus for initializing a disc drive to bring a spindle motor to a final, operational velocity after a disc drive processor reset condition. The number of outstanding read requests and write requests issued to the system memory are separately monitored and further issuance of read and write requests to the system memory is separately controlled based on the number of outstanding read and write requests, respectively. The embodiments may also include remapping in system firmware of the computing device the current map from logical space to physical space of the floating portion of the non-volatile storage. The primary rate controlling barrier includes a relatively lipophilic oily vehicle.