A method is disclosed for writing M spiral tracks (i=1 to M) to a disk of a disk drive. A head is positioned over a first radial location to write a concentric reference track comprising N concentric servo sectors. Prior to writing one of the spiral tracks, the concentric reference track is read and a position error signal first_PES.sub.i(j) is generated for at least one of the servo sectors j in the concentric reference track, wherein the first_PES.sub.i(j) represents an offset of the head from the first radial location, and the servo sector j corresponds to a circumferential location of the spiral track. At least one of a starting radial location and a velocity profile is adjusted in response to the first_PES.sub.i(j), and the spiral track is written to the disk using the starting radial location and the velocity profile.