A method and system for providing a magnetic transducer are disclosed. The method and system include providing a magnetic element including a free layer, a nonmagnetic spacer layer, a pinned layer, and a pinning layer adjacent to the pinned layer. The free layer is to be biased in a first direction. The pinning layer biases the pinned layer magnetization in a second direction. The pinning layer is oriented along the second direction. A hard bias structure is adjacent to the magnetic element. The hard bias structure magnetization is initialized such that it has a nonzero component along the second direction. The method and system also include performing thermal treatment(s) after initializing the hard bias magnetization. The thermal treatment(s) are above room temperature. The method and system further include resetting the hard bias magnetization substantially along the first direction after the thermal process(es) are performed.