Patent ID: 7603537

Claim:
A method of processing data recorded on a recording medium, the recording medium including a plurality of zones forming a group, to manage defects at a group level, a spare area at a predetermined position of the group and not in the plurality of zones for replacing defects for the plurality of zones of the group, and start position information for each zone in a predetermined area of the recording medium, the method comprising: reading the start position information from the predetermined area of the recording medium, with the predetermined area having the start position information for each zone, the start position information storing a start logical sector number for each of the zones, and with the predetermined area being in a disc definition structure area of a defect management area of the recording medium; accessing the data recorded on the recording medium based upon the read start position information and using replacement data in the spare area to replace defects for the zones of the group; and processing the accessed data.