A perpendicular magnetic recording medium of the embodiments of the
invention comprises a substrate, a hcp soft underlayer (SUL), and a
magnetic layer, wherein the hcp SUL is adapted to create a [0002] growth
orientation in the magnetic layer and to enhance a magnetic head field
during writing of data to the magnetic layer; further wherein the
perpendicular magnetic recording medium does not contain an interlayer
(IL) that is different from the hcp SUL and provides a [0002] growth
orientation in the magnetic layer.