A disk drive operable with first and second servo patterns in a
perpendicular media recording (PMR) environment is disclosed. The disk
drive comprises a head operable with a perpendicular flux, a disk, and a
servo controller. The disk includes a plurality of tracks, wherein each
track has a plurality of servo sectors utilized in seek operations. The
servo sectors of the disk include a first servo pattern between one of an
inner diameter (ID) or an outer diameter (OD) of the disk and a middle
diameter (MD) of the disk, respectively, and a second servo pattern
between the other of the OD or the ID of the disk and the MD of the disk,
respectively. The servo controller operates in a first mode when seeking
within one of the first or second servo patterns and a second mode when
seeking between the first servo pattern and the second servo pattern.