The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for reducing
velocity errors when writing spiral servo information onto a disk surface
of a disk drive. In one embodiment, a servo track writer is provided for
moving a write head at a controlled velocity. The write head is used to
write spiral servo information onto a disk surface. The write head is
moved, using the servo track writer, at an actual velocity trajectory to
simulate writing one spiral of spiral servo information. Differences
between the actual velocity trajectory and a desired velocity trajectory
are measured on a control sample by control sample basis over a window of
control samples. The differences are integrated over the window. A gain,
associated with the servo track writer controlling the velocity of the
write head, is adjusted using the integrated differences.