Patent ID: 8325576

Claim:
An information recording-reproducing method for recording or reproducing information into or from data recording areas of first and second optical discs, the first and second optical discs being subject to recording and reproducing with a laser of same wavelength, the data recording areas of first and second optical discs having different recording densities, respectively, disc management information including information of data recording densities of the data recording areas being recorded in a management information recording area of the first and second optical discs by using a unique format, the information recording-reproducing method comprising: setting reproducing conditions for reproducing the disc management information in accordance with the unique format; reading out the disc management information from the management information recording area in the optical disc; making a decision as to a data recording density on the basis of the disc management information read out; selecting and setting recording-reproducing processing conditions for the first or second optical disc according to the data recording density obtained as a result of the decision, the recording-reproducing processing conditions for the first and second optical disc are different from each other; and recording or reproducing information under the set recording-reproducing processing conditions.