Cleaning medium

1. A cleaning medium for cleaning a magneto-resistive head comprising:

a backcoat layer;

a nonmagnetic support; and

a cleaning layer containing ferromagnetic powder and a binder,

in this order,

wherein the cleaning layer has projections having a height of 10 nm or higher on a surface of the cleaning layer at a density of from 0.10 to 5.0/μm 2 and a surface microhardness of from 294 to 784 MPa.

2. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , further comprising an undercoat layer containing nonmagnetic inorganic powder and a binder between the nonmagnetic support and the cleaning layer.

3. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , which has a surface resistivity of 1×10 7 Ω/sq. or less.

4. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , which has a surface resistivity of from 1×10 5 to 1×10 6 Ω/sq.

5. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning layer has projections having a height of 10 nm or higher on a surface of the cleaning layer at a density of from 0.20 to 4.0/μm 2 .

6. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning layer has projections having a height of 10 nm or higher on a surface of the cleaning layer at a density of from 0.50 to 3.0/μm 2 .

7. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning layer has a surface microhardness of from 392 to 686 MPa.

8. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning layer has a surface microhardness of from 392 to 588 MPa.

9. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , wherein the ferromagnetic powder has a crystallite size of from 10 to 30 nm.

10. The cleaning medium according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaning layer further contains carbon black.