Patent ID: 8385175

Claim:
A recording and reproduction apparatus which performs recording and reproduction of information in a recording medium including user data recording areas, laser power calibration areas, management information storage areas to which recording is performed when recording state is changed and a plurality of recording layers, each layer including a user data recording area, a laser power calibration area, and a management information storage area, comprising: a laser power calibration area monitoring part to individually monitor a usable area of the laser power calibration area in each layer; a user data recording area monitoring part to individually monitor a usable area of the user data recording area in each layer; and a management information recording part to record information in the management information storage areas, wherein the management information recording part being, when the management information storage area in a first recording layer is to be updated, responsive to an instruction from the laser power calibration area monitoring part, not to update the management information storage area in the first recording layer hereafter and to update the management information storage area in a second recording layer, wherein when the laser power calibration area in the first recording layer is used for recording of the user data recording area of a third recording layer and a usable capacity of the laser power calibration area in the first recording layer is lower than a predetermined threshold, the laser power calibration area monitoring part issues the instruction to the management information recording part, the laser power calibration area whose usable capacity is lower than the predetermined threshold being used for recording of the user data recording area of the first recording layer.