Patent ID: 8786979

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving data indicative of a waveform produced by a head operated with respect to a recording medium, wherein the medium comprises data tracks that are arranged based on circumferences of the medium and servo regions, each of the servo regions comprising multiple discrete strips of magnetic material that are radially arranged with respect to the medium; detecting a servo region of the servo regions based on the waveform becoming an alternating signal, the alternating signal being indicative of the head's path over the discrete magnetic strips in the servo region; performing a frequency synchronization of a read clock based on the detection of the servo region to establish a frequency lock; performing a phase synchronization of the read clock to align a phase of the read clock with respect to acquired samples of the alternating signal; performing a synchronization of a write clock based on a write of a test sequence to the medium, the write clock being responsive to the frequency lock and the read clock; and writing, using the synchronized write clock, data to the medium for servo control.