Patent ID: 8531792

Claim:
A system comprising: a read clock; a write clock; a recording medium, wherein the medium comprises data tracks disposed on discrete strips of magnetic material that are arranged based on circumferences of the medium and servo regions disposed on discrete strips of magnetic material that are arranged based on radii of the medium; a head to produce a waveform based on the head's passage over the medium; and processor electronics in communication with the head, wherein the processor electronics are configured to perform operations comprising: receiving data indicative of the waveform; detecting, when the medium is in a state of uniform magnetic polarity, a beginning of a servo region of the servo regions based on the waveform changing from a non-alternating signal to an alternating signal, the non-alternating signal being indicative of the head's path over a data track of the data tracks, and the alternating signal being indicative of the head's path over discrete magnetic strips in the servo region; performing a synchronization of the read clock and the write clock based on the detected beginning of the servo region; and writing, based on the synchronization, data to the servo region for servo control of the medium, and wherein performing the synchronization comprises: performing a frequency synchronization of the read clock based on the detected beginning of the servo region to establish a frequency lock; performing, when the medium is in a state of uniform magnetic polarity, a phase synchronization of the read clock to align a phase of the read clock with respect to acquired samples of the alternating signal, the write clock being responsive to the frequency lock and the phase of the read clock; and performing, after the phase synchronization of the read clock, a phase synchronization of the write clock based on a write of a test sequence to the recording medium.