Contoured magnetic recording head/slider assembly

A magnetic head/slider assembly for flying a magnetic head on a fluid bearing relative to magnetic recording media moving in a predetermined direction in the fluid, comprising

• a slider body having leading and trailing edges with respect to such relative movement and a bottom surface facing said media and extending longitudinally of said slider body with at least a portion of said bottom surface forming a fluid bearing surface which is convexly curved in the longitudinal direction from said trailing edge to a point forward thereof, and
• at least one magnetic head including a read/write gap affixed to said slider body and extending rearwardly of the trailing edge thereof, the bottom surface of said head being convexly curved in said longitudinal direction from said slider body trailing edge to a point rearward thereof,
• said head/slider assembly being supported such that the portion of said assembly closest to said media when the movement of said media is stopped is a portion of said slider body forward of said trailing edge, whereby the magnetic head remains spaced above the media when the media-contacting portion of the assembly is resting on the media surface to protect the read/write gap from contact with the media.