Patent ID: 8040633

Claim:
A magnetic recording-reproducing apparatus comprising: a magnetic recording medium having a track pattern formed by arranging track portions having a predetermined track width and gap portions having a predetermined gap width alternately in a cross-track direction, in which at least a part of portions corresponding to the track portions in the track pattern serve as recording areas having a width substantially the same as the track width, and in which portions between the recording areas serve as non-recording areas; and a magnetic head having a main pole for applying a recording magnetic field to the recording areas, and a side shield disposed on both sides of the main pole in the cross-track direction wherein following inequality (I): S>Tw/ 2 +Gw (I) is satisfied, where Tw is the track width, Gw is the gap width, and S is a distance in the cross-track direction between the center of the main pole of the magnetic head in the cross-track direction and an edge on the main pole side of the side shield.