Longitudinal recording media made with chromium and with nickel-aluminum underlayers are compared. NiAl films have smaller grains and random crystallographic orientation, while Cr films have larger grains and either a {110} or a {200} preferred orientation depending on the deposition conditions. Cobalt alloy films grown on NiAl have nearly random crystallographic orientation and significantc-axis out-of-plane component, and lower hysteresis loop squareness and coercivity than films made on a heated Cr underlayer. NiAl-underlayer media do not exhibit in-plane magnetic anisotropy induced by the substrate texture lines. CoCrTaPt/Cr/NiAl media had higher overwrite than CoCrTaPt/Cr media due to higher coercive squareness and a sharper hysteresis loop closure. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.