Method and system for testing a controller of a hard disk drive

A controller configured to control a hard disk drive, wherein the hard disk drive includes a storage medium having a plurality of sectors, the controller comprising:

• read channel circuitry configured to write data, via a read/write head, to one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors of the storage medium;
• a disk formatter in communication with the read channel circuitry via a bus, wherein the disk formatter is configured to provide, via the bus, the data to the read channel circuitry to permit the read channel circuitry to write the data to the one or more sectors of the storage medium;
• an actuator configured to, in accordance with servo information and sector information, move the read/write head across the surface of the storage medium as the read channel circuitry writes the data to onto the one or more sectors of the storage medium;
• and
• an accumulator configured to accumulate (i) the data, from the bus, being provided by the disk formatter to the read channel circuitry, and (ii) the servo information and the sector information, wherein the data accumulated by the accumulator along with the servo information and the sector information is useable to test proper operation of the controller.