Method and apparatus for performing a self-servo write operation in a disk drive

A method comprising the steps of:

• writing spiral servo information onto a disk surface of a disk drive in a closed-loop fashion;
• writing embedded servo information onto the disk surface;
• writing self-servo writing instructions into a utility zone that is located within the embedded servo information;
• writing final servo patterns onto the disk surface using said spiral servo information and said embedded servo information.

In a disk drive that includes a disk surface and a head that reads from and writes to the disk surface, a method for servo writing, comprising:

• writing spiral servo information arranged as spirals and embedded servo information arranged as servo wedges to the disk surface using the head while positioning the head in a closed-loop fashion;
• reading the embedded servo information from the disk surface using the head to generate first position information;
• writing self-servo writing instructions to the disk surface using the head and the first position information to position the head;
• reading the embedded servo information from the disk surface using the head to generate second position information;
• reading the self-servo writing instructions from the disk surface using the head and the second position information to position the head;
• reading the spiral servo information from the disk surface using the head to generate third position information;
• and
• self-servo writing final servo patterns to the disk surface using the head and the third position information to position the head and the self-servo writing instructions read from the disk surface.

In a disk drive that includes a disk surface and a head that reads from and writes to the disk surface, a method for servo writing, comprising:

• writing spiral servo information to the disk surface using the head while positioning the head in a closed-loop fashion, wherein the spiral servo information is arranged as spirals in a first set of spirals and a second set of spirals, each spiral in the first set of spirals is interleaved between and adjacent to a pair of spirals in the second set of spirals and each spiral in the second set of spirals is interleaved between and adjacent to a pair of spirals in the first set of spirals;
• reading the spiral servo information from the disk surface during first and second revolutions of the disk surface using the head to generate position information, including reading the first set of spirals but not the second set of spirals during the first revolution and reading the second set of spirals but not the first set of spirals during the second revolution;
• and
• self-servo writing final servo patterns to the disk surface using the head and the position information to position the head.