A system is described for constructing maximum transition run modulation code based upon a multi-level run-length limited finite state machine. A processor is configured to receive information from a hard disk drive via a read channel and recover data from the hard disk drive using maximum transition run modulation code. A memory has computer executable instructions configured for execution by the processor to model a magnetic recording channel as a partial response channel, model a source of information to the magnetic recording channel to provide an optimized Markov source, and construct a maximum transition run modulation code to mimic the optimized Markov source based upon a finite state machine having a limited transition run length and a multi-level periodic structure.