The present invention may be embodied in a method for preventing radial error propagation during self-servowriting of concentric tracks on a magnetic disk in a disk drive. Each written track comprises a plurality of embedded servo sectors that define a circumferential path and that eventually form corresponding servo wedges extending radially across the magnetic disk such that each servo sector t of a track corresponds to a particular servo wedge. In the method comprising, track following is performed along a previously written track and a position error signal is determined for each servo sector. A correction value is recursively estimated for each servo sector of an adjacent track. The correction value is for use in correcting a position error signal determined using the corresponding servo sector of the adjacent track to prevent radial error propagation from previously written track to the adjacent track.