Patent ID: 7206268

Claim:
An information recording medium including a plurality of sectors, the information recording medium comprising a data recording area, the data recording area including: a first spare area having a replacement area including a spare sector for replacing a defective area including a defective sector among the plurality of sectors; a defect management information area in which defect management information for management in the replacement of the defective area including the defective sector by the replacement area including the spare sector is recorded; and a volume space in which user data can be recorded, wherein: each of the sectors in the data recording area is assigned a physical sector number; in the data recording area, a second spare area having a replacement area including a spare sector for replacing a defective area including a defective sector among the plurality of sectors can be allocated, and the second spare area can be extended; and the defect management information area has an area for recording the first information which indicates whether or not there is any spare sector available in the first spare area and the second information which indicates whether or not there is any spare sector available in the second spare area.