High-density recording on advanced magnetic tapes

The advent of magnetoresistance technology for read transducers should render the trend to higher remanence media counterproductive and undesirable because of demagnetization and nonlinear effects. In this investigation, we used magnetic force microscopy to study the high-density capability of advanced thin-film and particulate tapes beyond the resolution limits of available read heads. At 8900 fc/mm (226 kfci) the particulate media support more stable transitions with higher signal to noise compared with their thin-film counterparts, which supports our argument that high magnetization is detrimental to good high-density recording performance. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.