Patent ID: 7265921

Claim:
A method for improving the format efficiency of a hard disk of a hard disk drive, the hard disk drive having a rotary actuator and a read/write head, the read/write head having a read element and a write element, the method comprising: determining a radial position of the read/write head with respect to the hard disk; calculating a varying spacing distance between the read element and the write element measured along each data track of the hard disk as a function of a radius of the hard disk, wherein the varying spacing distance between the read element and the write element varies from track to track at different distances from a center of the hard disk; and writing data tracks on the hard disk at varying distances from the center of the hard disk so that lengths of unused areas between data sectors and subsequent servo samples in each of the data tracks on the hard disk are substantially equal to the varying spacing distance between the read element and the write element as measured along a corresponding data track of the hard disk.