Abstract: A disk drive system having a shielded pole write head and media that includes a disk having a soft underlayer (SUL) that is relatively thin in order to save on cost for producing the SUL. The SUL is thin enough that it will become magnetically saturated in the vicinity of the write pole. The thickness of the SUL that will achieve this saturation may be stated as being less than a geometric factor times the ratio of the write pole saturation magnetization divided by the saturation magnetization of the SUL. The geometric factor is the ratio of the write pole area at the ABS to the write pole perimeter at the ABS.

Abstract: A write pole for a read/write head of a disk drive system has a tapered surface on a leading edge thereof. Preferably, the tapered surface has a taper angle of between 0 and 20 degrees from a plane normal to the ABS. By having a write pole with a taper in this manner, sufficient write fields can be achieved even with thinner write pole tips on the ABS surface. By decreasing the thickness of the write pole tip in this manner while maintaining sufficiently high write fields, the skew profile of a write head can be decreased and areal density increased.

Abstract: A magnetic recording process includes applying an initial magnetic field to magnetize a magnetic recording medium and positioning a ferromagnetic mask over the magnetic recording medium. The ferromagnetic mask has a tooth which shields a portion of the magnetic recording medium in order to maintain the initial magnetic field in the portion. The process also includes applying a biasing magnetic field to the magnetic recording medium and applying a recording magnetic field to the magnetic recording medium while applying the biasing magnetic field. The biasing magnetic field is substantially perpendicular to the initial magnetic field and the recording magnetic field is substantially opposite in polarity to the initial magnetic field.