A magnetic disk device includes a control circuit, and a disk unit including a plurality of magnetic disks, a plurality of magnetic heads configured to read or write data from or to the magnetic disks, a first actuator configured to move the magnetic heads, a plurality of second actuators each configured to move the corresponding magnetic head, and a switch circuit configured to connect the control circuit and one of the second actuators. The control circuit is configured to transmit to the disk unit an instruction in which one of the magnetic heads is specified, control one of the second actuators corresponding to the specified magnetic head to move the magnetic head via the switch circuit, and based on a signal from the one of the second actuators, determine whether an error occurs in the one of the second actuators.