A disk drive comprising a moveable head, a disk, and a servo controller to control track following operations including implementing an estimation filter is disclosed. The disk includes a plurality of tracks in which a substantial majority of the tracks include a plurality of servo sectors utilized in track following operations. The servo controller implements an estimation filter and performs operations that include: determining a current position estimate of the moveable head relative to the track; predicting a subsequent position estimate of the moveable head relative to the track based upon the current position estimate; and determining whether the predicted subsequent position exceeds an error threshold.