OPTICAL RECORDING MEDIUM, RECORDING/REPRODUCING APPARATUS, AND RECORDING/REPRODUCING METHOD

摘要

An information recording medium, on which when a spare area for a replacement block for replacing a defect block created in a predetermined area of an information recording medium is enlarged or newly allocated, defect status information of blocks within the enlarged or newly allocated spare area is changed and written on the information recording medium. By managing the defect status information of the blocks within the enlarged or newly allocated spare area, unnecessary operations of a drive system are eliminated thus improving efficiency of the drive system.