Abstract: The present invention may be embodied in a method, and related apparatus, for determining a repeatable runout (RRO) compensation value set for a track on a disk in a disk drive, wherein the disk drive is initially manufactured and then shipped for installation in a host system. The track comprises a plurality of embedded servo sectors that define a circumferential path having RRO which requires compensation during track following. The method comprises determining a first RRO compensation value set for the track to a first desired learning level by measuring the RRO for the track based on a first predetermined number of disk rotations during the initial manufacturing of the disk drive.

Abstract: A computer system has a host computer coupled to a disk drive having a host interface subsystem. The host interface subsystem includes a user partition, a drive management partition, and a disk-drive-selected application partition. The user partition stores data for execution by the host computer. The drive management partition stores data for execution by the disk drive. The disk-drive-selected application partition stores data for execution by the host computer in response to a drive-determined condition. The host interface subsystem further includes a user command interface that processes commands for storing data in the user partition, a first drive command interface that processes commands for storing data in the disk drive management partition according to a first disk-drive command protocol, and a second drive command interface that processes commands enabling data storage in the application partition according to a second disk-drive command protocol.