Patent ID: 7177118

Claim:
A magnetic recording system comprising: a magnetic recording medium comprising a lower ferromagnetic layer (LL) having an intrinsic coercivity H OLL , a middle ferromagnetic layer (ML) having an intrinsic coercivity H OML greater than H OLL , an upper ferromagnetic layer (UL) having an intrinsic coercivity H OUL greater than H OML wherein H OLL is at least 25 percent less than H OUL , a first nonferromagnetic spacer layer between LL and ML, and a second nonferromagnetic spacer layer between ML and UL; and an inductive write head having write poles separated by a write gap and capable of generating a magnetic field H G at the gap to alter the magnetization directions in regions of LL, ML and UL, the magnetization directions of LL, ML and UL in said regions being parallel, the write head being maintained near the medium whereby the field at the middle of LL is greater than H OLL , the field at the middle of ML is greater than H OML , and the field at the middle of UL is greater than H OUL .