Patent ID: 8850111

Claim:
An information storage medium, comprising: a user data area configured to record user data; a spare area comprising spare blocks, each spare block configured to replace a defective block occurring in the user data area; and a defect management area in which information about each defective block occurring in the user data area is recorded, wherein the spare blocks of the spare area comprise usable spare blocks, the usable spare blocks comprising at least one first usable spare block with a replacement block existing in forward parts of the at least one first usable spare block in a usage order, and at least one second usable spare block without a replacement block existing in forward parts of the at least one second usable spare block in the usage order, wherein a next available position pointer of the spare area is recorded in the defect management area, the next available position pointer of the spare area indicating the first block from among the at least one second usable spare block.