A thin film metal alloy magnetic recording disk has an improved protective overcoat that creates a low level of static friction in a contact start/stop disk drive. The disk has an amorphous carbon overcoat containing a transition liquid metal interlayer (TLMI). The carbon overcoat is formed by depositing an initial amorphous carbon layer to a first thickness, then depositing an interlayer material of a low-melting point metal or metal alloy (such as In or In--Nb) while maintaining the temperature of the disk substrate above the melting point of the interlayer material, and then depositing a top additional layer of amorphous carbon. Because the initial carbon layer presents a nonwetting surface, the interlayer material "balls up" on the carbon and forms discontinuous spheres of the interlayer material. The additional top layer of carbon bonds to the initial carbon layer and to the metal or metal alloy spheres. The completed disk protective overcoat presents a continuous but textured surface of amorphous carbon for the head-disk interface in the disk drive.