A method of fabricating a patterned perpendicular magnetic recording
medium comprises steps of: (a) providing a layer stack including a
magnetically soft underlayer ("SUL") and an overlying non-magnetic
interlayer; (b) forming a masking layer on the non-magnetic interlayer;
(c) forming a resist layer on the masking layer; (d) forming a pattern of
recesses extending through the resist layer and exposing spaced apart
surface portions of the masking layer; (e) extending the pattern of
recesses through the masking layer to expose spaced apart surface
portions of the interlayer; and (f) at least partially filling the
pattern of recesses with a magnetically hard material to form a
perpendicular magnetic recording layer.