Patent ID: 7936649

Claim:
An apparatus for recording data onto a write once recording medium, the recording medium having a data area and a management area, the data area having a spare area, the apparatus comprising: a pickup configured to record the data onto the recording medium; and a microcomputer configured to control the pickup, wherein the microcomputer is further configured to perform a replacement-recording by controlling the pickup to record data requested to be recorded in a specified area onto a replacement area in the data area when the specified area is defective or contains data recorded thereon; wherein the microcomputer is further configured to control the pickup to record onto the management area a pair of consecutive entries for managing the replacement-recording when a size of the specified area corresponds to a plurality of consecutive recording-units, and wherein one of the pair of consecutive entries indicates a start position of the specified area and a start position of the replacement area, wherein another one of the pair of consecutive entries indicates an end position of the specified area and an end position of the replacement area, and wherein each of the pair of consecutive entries includes first status information indicating that the replacement-recording is performed and second status information indicating that the replacement-recording is performed for a plurality of consecutive recording-units.