Patent ID: 8367228

Claim:
A magnetic recording medium comprising: a substrate; a recording layer including an auxiliary recording layer and a main recording layer disposed on said substrate, wherein the auxiliary recording layer has magnetic portions corresponding to recording bits and separation portions for separating the magnetic portions from each other, and the main recording layer is divided into regions serving as recording bits by a magnetic influence exerted by the auxiliary recording layer, wherein said main recording layer comprises magnetic crystal grains exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and comprising nonmagnetic substances for magnetically separating the magnetic crystal grains from each other at grain boundaries of the magnetic crystal grains, wherein said auxiliary recording layer has magnetic grains exchange-coupled to the magnetic crystal grains, wherein a grain boundary width of the magnetic grains are smaller than a grain boundary width of the magnetic crystal grains, wherein there are separation regions which magnetically separate tracks from each other in regions between the tracks of the magnetic recording medium in at least the auxiliary recording layer, and wherein the separation regions are disposed substantially only in the auxiliary recording layer of the main recording layer and the auxiliary recording layer.