Patent ID: 7649707

Claim:
A head positioning servo method for non-azimuthal recording, wherein a head assembly includes a first head having first and second write elements and a read element, the method comprising: writing a first data track with the first write element; and writing a first reference track with the second write element, wherein the first reference track is written while the first write element writes the first data track and the first reference track partially overwrites the first data track to form a first servo edge for laterally servoing the head assembly, wherein the head assembly further includes a second head including corresponding first and second write elements and a read element, the read element of the second head for servoing off a second servo edge formed by data and reference tracks respectively written by the first and second write elements of the second head; and the read element of the second head servoing off of the second servo edge to laterally position the head assembly while the first head writes the first data track.