A system and method for disabling access to individually addressable regions of an array of non-volatile memory. In response to receiving an initial valid command, a process for disabling access to the defective portions of the array of non-volatile memory is initiated in addition to executing the initial valid command. One implementation provides receiving a memory command and determining whether an indicator has been set. In response to the indicator not being set, access to defective regions of the array of non-volatile memory is disabled in addition to executing the memory command. The indicator is also set to prevent the disabling process from being performed in response to receipt of subsequent memory commands.