Magnetic recording apparatus having variable-width tracks and method of testing same

A magnetic recording apparatus comprising:

• a head slider comprising read and write elements;
• and
• a magnetic recording medium comprising:
• a plurality of magnetically recordable recording tracks comprising a magnetic land width L1,
• a wide land track having a magnetic land width L2 larger than L1,
• a plurality of first non-recording sections comprising a width G1, each of the plurality of first non-recording sections provided between adjacent recording tracks, and
• a second non-recording section comprising a width G2 larger than the width G1 of the first non-recording sections,
• wherein the magnetic land width L1 of the recording track is smaller than a bottom read width BRW of the read and write elements, the magnetic land width L2 of the wide land track is larger than the bottom read width BRW of the read and write elements, the wide land track and the second non-recording section are provided in a sweep width of the head slider, and the BRW is an actual value of width between positions at which a signal intensity rises spanning both sides of a signal intensity profile of the read element.