The position information of the magnetic head is generated also from the data area to improve the positioning accuracy. The magnetic disk drive has a function of oscillating the magnetic head in the radial direction in the data area at a specific frequency and a function of detecting a read signal during the execution of the oscillation function and detects position information of the magnetic head from the detected read signal. The magnetic head position control can be performed in the data area. The magnetic head position signal not dependent on the frequency of a sampling signal generated from the servo information area can be generated. This in turn improves the data recording density and allows a highly precise position control of the magnetic head, thus improving the reliability of the magnetic disk drive.