Disk drive employing coarse position feedback from mechanical position sensor to improve format efficiency

1. A disk drive comprising:

(a) a disk comprising a plurality of servo sectors having servo bursts for defining a plurality of servo tracks, wherein:

the servo tracks are banded together to form a plurality of servo track bands; and

each servo sector comprises a fine track address that identifies one of the servo tracks;

(b) an actuator arm;

(c) a head attached to a distal end of the actuator arm operable to generate a read signal by reading the disk;

(d) a mechanical position sensor operable to detect a coarse position of the actuator arm; and

(e) control circuitry operable to:

process the coarse position to identify one of the servo track bands;

process the read signal to detect one of the fine track addresses, wherein the detected fine track address identifies a servo track within the identified servo track band;

combine the identified servo track band with the detected fine track address to generate a servo track address; and

calibrate the mechanical position sensor by positioning the head over a predetermined location within a servo track band and processing a corresponding coarse position detected by the mechanical position sensor.

2. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to calibrate the mechanical position sensor by:

(a) positioning the head over a servo track band near one of the inner diameter or outer diameter of the disk;

(b) positioning the head over a predetermined location within the servo track band by processing fine track addresses detected in the servo sectors;

(c) processing a corresponding coarse position detected by the mechanical position sensor; and

(d) moving the head radially over the disk to a next servo track band by processing fine track addresses and repeating the calibration for the next servo track band.

3. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to identify a margin band at the ends of each servo track band, and to use the margin band to recalibrate the mechanical position sensor.

4. The disk drive as recited in claim 3 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to identify each margin band by processing the fine track addresses detected while calibrating the mechanical position sensor.

5. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

(a) execute a disk access command by performing a seek operation to seek the head to a target servo track; and

(b) calibrate the mechanical position sensor during the seek operation.

6. The disk drive as recited in claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further operable to:

(a) execute a disk access command by performing a tracking operation to maintain the head along a circumferential path relative to a target servo track; and

(b) calibrate the mechanical position sensor during the tracking operation.

7. A method of operating a disk drive, the disk drive comprising a disk comprising a plurality of servo sectors having servo bursts for defining a plurality of servo tracks, wherein:

the servo tracks are banded together to form a plurality of servo track bands; and

each servo sector comprises a fine track address that identifies one of the servo tracks;

the disk drive further comprising an actuator arm, a head attached to a distal end of the actuator arm operable to generate a read signal by reading the disk, and a mechanical position sensor operable to detect a coarse position of the actuator arm, the method comprising the steps of:

processing the coarse position to identify one of the servo track bands;

processing the read signal to detect one of the fine track addresses, wherein the detected fine track address identifies a servo track within the identified servo track band;

combining the identified servo track band with the detected fine track address to generate a servo track address; and

calibrating the mechanical position sensor by positioning the head over a predetermined location within a servo track band and processing a corresponding coarse position detected by the mechanical position sensor.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the mechanical position sensor comprises an optical sensor.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the step of calibrating the mechanical position sensor comprises the steps of:

positioning the head over a servo track band near one of the inner diameter or outer diameter of the disk;

positioning the head over a predetermined location within the servo track band by processing fine track addresses detected in the servo sectors;

processing the corresponding coarse position detected by the mechanical position sensor; and

moving the head radially over the disk to a next servo track band by processing fine track addresses and repeating the calibration for the next servo track band.

10. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising the steps of identifying a margin band at the ends of each servo track band, and using the margin band to recalibrate the mechanical position sensor.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the step of identifying each margin band comprises the step of processing the fine track addresses detected while calibrating the mechanical position sensor.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising the steps of:

executing a disk access command by performing a seek operation to seek the head to a target servo track; and

calibrating the mechanical position sensor during the seek operation.

13. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising the steps of:

executing a disk access command by performing a tracking operation to maintain the head along a circumferential path relative to a target servo track; and

calibrating the mechanical position sensor during the tracking operation.