The development of the flow over a rotating disk is investigated by direct numerical simulations using both the linearised and fully nonlinear Navier-Stokes equations. The nonlinear simulations allow investigation of the transition to turbulence of the realistic spatially-developing boundary layer, and these simulations can be directly validated by physical experiments of the same case. The current research aims to elucidate further the global stability properties of the flow. So far, there are no conclusive simulations available in the literature for the fully nonlinear case for this flow, and since the nonlinearity is particularly relevant for transition to turbulence an increased understanding of this process is expected.