In this article, we present an experimental study of the overwrite degradat
ion in high speed recording. Recorded hard and easy transitions were direct
ly characterized and correlated to medium speed, write current waveform and
media properties. It has been found that, when high medium speed becomes g
reater than the bubble growth speed, the transition will be recorded when t
he field gradient is poor, which results in not only large hard transition
shift, but also hard transition broadening. Slow field rise time causes fur
ther degradation due to the effective slowing down of the bubble growth spe
ed. Write current overshoot can significantly suppress the degradation. Med
ium coercivity and its time dependence also have shown a direct effect on t
he overwrite degradation.