A patterned-media magnetic recording disk has data islands arranged into concentric data tracks and the data tracks arranged into radially-spaced annular zones, with each zone having an inside-diameter (ID) perimeter and an outside-diameter (OD) perimeter and at least one annular nondata region near one of its perimeters. Each zone includes generally radially-directed synchronization (sync) marks that extend from the zone ID perimeter to the zone OD perimeter so as to extend into the annular nondata region or regions of the zone. In the disk drive that uses the patterned-media disks the read head and write head have an effective radial offset relative to one another, so the write head may be on a data track near a zone perimeter when the read head is located in a nondata region. The read head detects the sync marks that extend into the nondata region so that the write head can be synchronized with the data islands in the data track.