Provided is a method and system for manufacturing a hard drive platen. The method includes depositing two or more types of film around a central core to form a plurality of film layers, each film layer being of a different type than its adjacent layers. Next, the deposited film layers are sectioned to expose a patterned surface. The patterned surface is then planarized and selectively etched to expose patterns comprised of one of the types of film to a predetermined depth to produce a selectively etched surface. Magnetic material it deposited within etches of the surface and the surface is then planarized to form separated magnetic tracks therein.