The present disclosure relates to pretreating a magnetic recording head to increase the lifetime of the magnetic media drive. A transparent smear is purposefully formed on the magnetic recording head to ensure the magnetic recording head does not overheat and lead to a short drive lifetime. The transparent smear is formed from material found in the magnetic media. The transparent smear is formed by pretreating the magnetic recording head with the transparent material from the magnetic media. The pretreating occurs without writing any data to the magnetic media. Once the transparent smear is in place, writing may occur. The magnetic recording head can be retreated at a later time should the transparent smear degrade. Furthermore, if an optically absorbing smear develop, it can be removed and a new transparent smear may be formed.