Patent ID: 7193916

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a receiver to receive input data; a first determining device configured to search through a plurality of data files stored in a first storage medium, said first determining device operating to determine whether copy of a first data file in said plurality of data files can be retrieved from a second storage medium; an indication device configured to indicate that the first data file stored in first storage medium is re-recordable when it is determined that the copy of the first data file be retrieved from the second storage medium, and otherwise to indicate that the first data file stored in the first storage medium is non-re-recordable; a controller to control an erase process for the first data file stored in the storage medium according to the result of the indication made by said indication device, wherein the controller operates to erase the first data file in the first storage medium so that the received input data can be stored m the first storage medium when the result the indication device indicates that the first data file stored in the first storage medium re-recordable; and a comparator configured to compare a remaining storable capacity of the first storage medium with an amount of the received data to be stored in the first storage medium, wherein said controller controls the erase process for the first data file stored in the first storage medium according to the result of the indication made by said indication device and the comparison result of said comparator.