Patent ID: 7016276

Claim:
An information recording medium including a plurality of sectors, the information recording medium comprising a data recording area, the data recording area including: a first spare area having a replacement area including a spare sector for replacing a defective area including a defective sector among the plurality of sectors; a defect management information area in which defect management information for managing the replacement of the defective area including the defective sector by the replacement area including the spare sector is recorded; and a volume space in which user data can be recorded, wherein: each of the sectors in the data recording area is assigned a physical sector number; in the data recording area, a second spare area having a replacement area including a spare sector for replacing a defective area including a defective sector among the plurality of sectors can be allocated in an area which is outside the volume space and which includes a sector having a physical sector number which is larger than a physical sector number assigned to the spare sector in the first spare area, and the second spare area can be extended outside the volume space in a direction along which the physical sector number decreases; and the defect management information area has an area for recording location information which indicates a location of the second spare area.