MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM, AND MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic storage deice which achieve both improvement of recording capacity and improvement of recording and reproducing characteristics.SOLUTION: A magnetic recording medium comprises a structure obtained by laminating an orientation control layer, a lower recording layer, an intermediate layer and an upper recording layer in this order. The lower recording layer has higher coercivity than the upper recording layer. The lower recording layer includes a first lower recording layer provided on the orientation control layer side and a second lower recording layer provided on the intermediate layer side. The first lower recording layer has a granular structure containing magnetic particles including Co, Cr and Pt and an oxide covering a periphery of the magnetic particles, and the second lower recording layer has a non-granular structure containing magnetic particles including Co, Cr and Pt. The lower recording layer includes a columnar crystal continuous in a thickness direction together with crystal particles which constitute the orientation control layer.