Patent ID: 7209306

Claim:
A recording medium, in which data are recorded on magnetic tape, comprising: data recorded to form tracks comprising a plurality of blocks, and groups, which are recording and reproduction data units corresponding to a predetermined plurality of tracks, wherein physical group identification information indicating the group to which the current track physically belongs is recorded within the data of said tracks, wherein logical group identification information indicating the group to which the current block logically belongs is recorded, using a number of bits smaller than the number of bits of said physical group identification information, in said blocks, wherein in an assembly of tracks which are indicated by said physical group identification information to belong to a specific group, blocks indicated to belong to a different group from the group indicated by said physical group identification information are recorded, and wherein when rewriting blocks of a predetermined track, blocks storing logical group identification information indicating a group different from the group indicated by the physical group identification information stored within the data of the track are recorded.