Abstract: A magnetic recording disk has a ferromagnetic recording layer and a “paramagnetic” write assist layer in contact and exchange coupled with the ferromagnetic recording layer. The write assist layer is a ferromagnetic material that has a Curie temperature less than the operating temperature of the disk drive so that at operating temperature and in the absence of a write field, the write assist layer is in its paramagnetic state and has no remanent magnetization. When a write field is applied in a direction opposite to the magnetization in previously written regions of the ferromagnetic recording layer, the write assist layer exhibits a magnetization aligned with the write field and assists the write field in reversing the magnetization in the ferromagnetic recording layer due to the exchange coupling.