Patent ID: 7876656

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a recording/reading unit to record/read data with respect to a recording medium comprising a data area disposed between a lead-in area and a lead-out area; the data area comprising a user data area and at least a spare area; the spare area comprising a replacement area to replace a defective area occurring in the user data area; the recording medium further comprising a defect management area (DMA) arranged in the lead-in area or the lead-out area; and a controller arranged to control the recording/reading unit to record data for replacing the defective area of the recording medium, and position information regarding the defective area, in the replacement area located in the spare area of the recording medium, and to record defect information identifying positions of the defective area and the replacement area in the defect management area (DMA) of the recording medium; wherein the defect information in the defect management area (DMA) comprises temporary defect management information to manage the defect information.