A method and apparatus for improving the capacity of a hard disk drive is provided. In one embodiment, a portion of timing information is written to a first disk prior to coupling the first disk with a hard disk drive. The first disk is then coupled with the hard disk drive having a read element aligned with a write element on a head portion of a head gimbal assembly. The timing information is then provided to the read element during a writing of a set of servo track information on the disk, wherein the portion of timing information allows the read element to be aligned with the write element on the head during the writing of the set of servo track information.