Patent ID: 6943972

Claim:
A method for selecting a track density for a disk surface of a disk drive, the disk drive comprising a disk including the disk surface and a head actuated over the disk surface, the method comprising the steps of: (a) writing a first pattern along a first circumferential path of the disk surface, wherein the first circumferential path comprises a first set of arcuate sections interleaved with a second set of arcuate sections; (b) writing a second pattern along a second circumferential path during time intervals corresponding to the first set of arcuate sections, wherein the second circumferential path is radially offset from the first circumferential path; (c) positioning the head substantially over the center of the first circumferential path and: during time intervals corresponding to the second set of arcuate sections, reading the first pattern to generate a first read signal amplitude measurement A 0 ; and during time intervals corresponding to the first set of arcuate sections, reading the first pattern to generate a second read signal amplitude measurement A 1 ; and (d) selecting a track density in response to A 0 and A 1 , wherein the track density is for use in writing embedded servo sectors to the disk surface.