A hard disk drive with a circuit that can perform a seek routine by providing a seek current to a voice coil motor. The voice coil motor is coupled to a head that is coupled to a disk. The seek current provides a predetermined number of harmonics. The number of harmonics is a function of a seek length of the seek routine. By way of example, the seek current may include only a first harmonic for seek lengths less than 20,000 tracks, or only the first and second harmonics for seeks less than 40,000 tracks. The harmonics can be determined by plotting PES settle versus seek length for a hard disk drive.