A method of writing servo data to a data storage medium includes reading a servo instruction from a memory, the servo instruction comprising a control portion and a data portion, processing the servo instruction in a controller to generate a servo data pattern from the data portion based on the control portion, and transferring the servo data pattern to the data storage medium. The processing may include transforming the data portion into the servo data pattern based on the control portion. The processing also may include following a command in the control portion to use the data portion as an index to retrieve a pre-programmed servo data pattern from a pattern store. The transferring may include storing the servo data pattern in a buffer, and writing the servo data pattern from the buffer to the data storage medium.