A magnetic recording medium and head slider that can furnish excellent head flying stability, a magnetic recording device having excellent head flying stability, and a method for manufacturing, in a short time, a magnetic recording medium and head slider that can furnish such excellent head flying stability, are provided. For both of the magnetic recording medium and head slider, the protective layers are each composed of two layers, that is, a lower layer and an upper layer thereon; the ionization potential of the lower layer is made to be smaller than that of the upper layer; and the surface free energy of the upper layer is made to be 45 mN/m or less.