Examination of newly developed metal particle media for >3 gb/in/sup 2/ recording in GMR-based tape systems

New metal particle (MP) media was developed for use with giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads. We confirmed the capability of constructing a helical scan magnetic recording system exceeding 3 Gb/in/sup 2/ recording density, because of sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) under test conditions at 6.74 Gb/in/sup 2/ of read-track-base calculations with the media (magneticlayerthickness=50 nm, magneticparticlesize=45 nm, and surfaceroughness Ra=1.8 nm). Low media partial-abrasive properties are incorporated to avoid excessive head gap material wear.