1. A data storage drive comprising: a transducer adapted to read customer data from a storage media; a sampler adapted to convert analog signals read from the storage media into a digital format; a detector adapted to identify transitions in the digital signal and a decoder adapted to generating an output substantially corresponding to the customer data; a memory operable to store a plurality J of n-tuple exemplar vectors representative of potential states of a system; the memory further operable to store a first predetermined value; an interface coupled to receive a plurality n of current parameter values from the system; means for generating an n-tuple trial vector from the n parameter values; a processor operable to determine a distance between the trial vector and each exemplar vector; the processor further operable to identify an exemplar vector K which is the least distance to the trial vector, the least distance comprising an activation value; and a comparator operable to compare the activation value with the first predetermined value, whereby if the activation value is less than the first predetermined value, the current state of the system is characterized by the exemplar vector K.