A method for managing a defective area of a write-once optical recording medium, comprising steps of: detecting, after writing data in a predetermined area of the optical recording medium, a defective cluster within the predetermined area; and writing data that was not successfully written in the defective cluster, as a replacement cluster, in a spare area assigned to a data area of the optical recording medium, the method further comprising: writing, until the optical recording medium is finalized, i) temporary defect list information (TDFL) in an assigned area of the optical recording medium and ii) location information indicating a location of the written temporary defect list information (TDFL) in a lead-in area of the optical recording medium, the temporary defect list information (TDFL) including locator information for indicating locations of the defective and replacement clusters; writing, when finalizing the optical recording medium, i) the temporary defect list information (TDFL) as defect list information and ii) location information indicating a location of the written defect list information both in the lead-in area; and setting identification information from a value indicating that the optical recording medium is not finalized to a value indicating that the optical recording medium has been finalized, the identification information being stored in the lead-in area. detecting, after writing data in a predetermined area of the optical recording medium, a defective cluster within the predetermined area; and writing data that was not successfully written in the defective cluster, as a replacement cluster, in a spare area assigned to a data area of the optical recording medium, the method further comprising: writing, until the optical recording medium is finalized, i) temporary defect list information (TDFL) in an assigned area of the optical recording medium and ii) location information indicating a location of the written temporary defect list information (TDFL) in a lead-in area of the optical recording medium, the temporary defect list information (TDFL) including locator information for indicating locations of the defective and replacement clusters; writing, when finalizing the optical recording medium, i) the temporary defect list information (TDFL) as defect list information and ii) location information indicating a location of the written defect list information both in the lead-in area; and setting identification information from a value indicating that the optical recording medium is not finalized to a value indicating that the optical recording medium has been finalized, the identification information being stored in the lead-in area. writing, until the optical recording medium is finalized, i) temporary defect list information (TDFL) in an assigned area of the optical recording medium and ii) location information indicating a location of the written temporary defect list information (TDFL) in a lead-in area of the optical recording medium, the temporary defect list information (TDFL) including locator information for indicating locations of the defective and replacement clusters; writing, when finalizing the optical recording medium, i) the temporary defect list information (TDFL) as defect list information and ii) location information indicating a location of the written defect list information both in the lead-in area; and setting identification information from a value indicating that the optical recording medium is not finalized to a value indicating that the optical recording medium has been finalized, the identification information being stored in the lead-in area.