Method and apparatus for servicing commands such as the type issued by a host device to load an operating system from an associated data storage device. A controller is adapted to, upon receipt of a selected command sequence comprising a first command followed by a second command, determine an elapsed time interval between the first and second commands. The controller further uses the elapsed time interval to subsequently service the first and second commands during a subsequent receipt of the selected command sequence. Preferably, a command history table is generated to list the commands in the command sequence and the associated time intervals, and to use the time intervals to predict when the next command will occur. Readback data are pre-fetched to a buffer to expedite servicing of the commands, and the controller selectively enters one or more reduced power modes between successive commands to reduce power consumption levels.