As the track becomes narrower, the effects of track edge become more significant. These effects, such as the amplitude reduction, variations in the shape of the isolated pulse, the partial erasure and the amplitude asymmetry, are dependent on head/disk combination and the off-track position. These relationships are discussed in detail in this paper. More importantly, an off-track model is proposed to study the off-track BER performance for the head with narrow track width. The BER performances of EPRML channel for different off-track cases and different head/media combinations are studied based on this model. Simulation results have proved that this model is a useful tool for simulation of system performance.

The origins of baseline shift were discussed considering the measured off-track properties using a wide write head with track widths of 97 µm and a narrow read head with track widths of 2.7 µm. The baseline shift increased when the read head was moved close to the track edge. Beyond the track edge, baseline shift decreased to negative values. The impulse response curve of the MR head to the perpendicular magnetization was estimated from the readback waves of the MIG head and the MR head. The response curve depended on the recorded track width. When the recorded track was narrow, the undershoot of the response curve was smaller than that of the head field based on the 2D double-gap ring head model with infinite track width. This small undershoot induces sensitivity of the DC-component of the recorded magnetization and causes the baseline shift. To calculate the readback waves of the MR head for single-layer perpendicular recording media with narrow-track recording, the effect from stray field at the recorded track edge must be included in the impulse response curve of read head.