JPH07147065A - Recording and reproducing method and device for optical disk - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the recording and reproducing method and device for an optical disk constituted to emit a warning when the remaining alternate regions of the optical disk decrease and to effectively utilize the recording parts in a non-use state by the previously executed alternation processing. CONSTITUTION:The warning is emitted via a means for detecting the amt. of the disk controller to be used, comparing means and warning means when the amt. of the alternate regions to be used exceeds a previously determined arbitrary set value at the time of executing recording and reproducing of the optical disk having the alternate regions. The parts to be alternated in the non-use state are reinspected by the previous alternation processing in the data recording region. If there is a usable part usable in the parts to be alternated exists, the recording is executed by reusing this usable part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing method for an optical disk such as a magneto-optical disk or a phase change disk, which performs writing or reading by a laser beam, and an apparatus therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned optical disc is in the limelight as a large-capacity external storage medium for a personal computer or the like. However, this optical disc uses a laser beam to form a recording mark of a submicron order on the recording medium. Since it can be formed, the storage capacity can be significantly increased as compared with a floppy disk or a hard disk which has been widely used as an external recording medium.

For example, an ISO 10090 standard magneto-optical disk has a nominal storage capacity of 128 MB on one side of an interchangeable 3.5-inch disk, and one 3.5-inch floppy disk for magnetic recording of the same size. Since the capacity is about 1 MB, one magneto-optical disk has a storage capacity of 128 floppy disks.

As described above, since the optical disk such as the magneto-optical disk is a replaceable recording medium having a very high recording density, defects such as unevenness and scratches are generated in the recording medium during the production, and the product yield is increased. There is a problem that it becomes worse, and further, in the above-mentioned exchangeable optical disk, since perfect sealing cannot be performed, dust and the like enter and writing / reading becomes impossible.

For this reason, the optical disc employs a replacement process for writing / reading errors. This replacement process is performed when the amount of errors exceeds a threshold value during writing or reading in a certain sector. The disk controller or the like automatically performs a process of stopping the use of the sector and recording the information by using the substitute sector which is provided in advance exceeding the nominal storage capacity in place of the bad sector in which this error has occurred. It is a thing.

If this replacement process is adopted, even if an error occurs in the sector due to some reason such as dust adhesion, it is possible to use the alternative sector for recording, and therefore data loss can be prevented. It is possible to prevent this, and from the user's point of view, the storage capacity of the optical disk will not decrease, and no apparent change will occur in the write / read operation, so be aware of the error occurrence. It is possible to record / reproduce data without the need.

[0007]

However, the number of alternative sectors is finite, and for example, the ISO standard for 3.5-inch magneto-optical disk cartridges mentioned above provides a maximum of 1024 alternative sectors. If the replacement processing for two sectors occurs when only one alternative sector remains after using 1023 sectors, the replacement is over and writing is interrupted, and the data to be written is missing depending on the correspondence of the host device. There is a possibility of doing.

Further, in an optical disk device using a replaceable recording medium, unlike a magnetic disk device (so-called hard disk device) in which the recording medium is hermetically sealed, dust or the like is likely to adhere to the recording medium or the optical system. There's a problem.

However, when dust or the like adheres to the replaceable optical disk, the user can clean the recording medium unlike the magnetic disk device in which the recording medium is sealed. Defects can be recovered.

Further, when dust or the like adheres to the optical system, the output of the reproduction signal is lowered, so that replacement processing is performed assuming that a defect has occurred in the recording medium. Even if is performed, the output of the reproduction signal does not recover and remains low, so that writing / reading to / from the next alternative sector is performed.

Therefore, as long as the dust adhered to the optical system continues, writing and reading are successively performed to the alternative sectors as described above, and eventually the alternative sectors disappear and the replacement becomes over. Therefore, this recording medium becomes unusable.

The replacement process in the magnetic disk device is performed on the basis of the reasons such as deterioration and damage of the recording medium and damage of the head, and is generally executed at the time of initialization of the recording medium. .

According to the present invention, a warning is issued when the amount of use of the alternative area exceeds an arbitrary set value, and it is possible to utilize the recording portion which has been made into an unused state by the replacement process previously performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording / reproducing method and device for such an optical disc.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a recording / reproducing method for an optical disc having an alternative area, a warning is issued when the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds a predetermined set value. I tried to emit it.

As a concrete configuration of the device for this purpose, as in claim 6, a usage amount detecting means for detecting the usage amount of the alternative area, and a usage amount of the alternative area from the usage amount detecting means are predetermined. And a warning means for issuing a warning when the comparison means detects that the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds a predetermined arbitrary set value. Good.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the recording / reproducing method of the optical disc having the alternative area, the replacement part in the unused state is re-inspected by the replacement process previously performed in the data recording area, and this replacement is performed. If there is a usable part in the replacement part, this usable part is reused.

An apparatus for carrying out this, as in claim 7, is a usage amount detecting means for detecting the usage amount of the alternative area,
Comparison means for comparing the usage amount of the alternative area from the usage amount detecting means with a predetermined set value, and the comparison means detecting that the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds an arbitrary preset value. Inspecting means for reinspecting the replaced part that is no longer used due to the replacement process previously performed,
It can be configured by providing registration means for registering the usable portion as a usable data recording area when the usable portion is detected by the re-inspection by the inspection means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the recording / reproducing method of the optical disc having the alternative area, the spare part in the unused state is re-examined by the replacement process previously performed, and the usable part that can be used If so, the data to be recorded in this usable portion recorded in the spare area is written back to this usable portion, and the spare area vacated by this write-back is used again as the spare area.

As an apparatus for carrying out this, as described in claim 8, the usage amount detecting means for detecting the usage amount of the alternative area, and the usage amount of the alternative area from this usage amount detecting means are predetermined. The comparing means for comparing the set value with the target area which is no longer used due to the replacement process previously performed when the comparing means detects that the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds a predetermined arbitrary set value. If the usable part that can be used is detected by the re-inspection by this inspection means and the inspection means for re-inspecting the replacement part, the data to be recorded in this usable part recorded in the replacement area It is configured by providing writing instruction means for instructing to write back to the usable portion and registration means for registering the spare area vacated by this write back as a usable spare area. It is possible.

When the re-inspection is carried out when the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds the set value as described above, the data recording area or the replacement area by the registering means as described in claim 9. It is possible to further provide a warning means for issuing a warning after the registration as the above is completed.

Further, the re-inspection may be performed when there is no substitute area to be recorded during the replacement process. In this case, usable usable portions can be set as described in claim 4. If so, it is possible to record in this usable part. As described in claim 5, a warning may be issued after the recording process is completed.

[0022]

The principle of the present invention will be described with reference to the principle diagram of FIG. Incidentally, in FIG. 1, the data recording area of the optical disc,
The alternate sector area and the DMA area are schematically shown. In an actual optical disk, the recording tracks of these areas are formed concentrically or spirally on the disk, and the sectors are sequentially provided on this recording track. It is what is done.

According to the first and sixth aspects of the present invention, as described above, if the remaining area of the alternative area of the optical disk is small, the alternative processing cannot be performed and the processing may be interrupted. When the usage exceeds a preset value, a warning is issued to alert the user.The usage in the alternative area is compared with a preset value to replace It is configured to issue a warning when the usage amount of the area exceeds an arbitrary preset value and the remaining amount of the alternative area decreases.

Claims 2 to 5 and Claims 7 to 9
The invention described in (1) can be used again by removing dust and the like from the replaced portion of the data recording area in which an error was found while the optical disc was being used and the replacement process was performed, for example, by the user cleaning the optical disc. In this case, the data recording area is used effectively.

The invention described in claim 2 is for effectively using the data recording area, and by reinspecting the replaced portion of the data recording area which is in an unused state by the replacement processing performed previously. If a usable portion that can be used as the replaced portion is detected, the detected usable portion is reused for data recording.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for carrying out the invention according to the second aspect, wherein a margin is provided for the usage amount and the replacement area of the alternative area detected by the usage amount detecting means. The comparison means detects that the amount of use of the alternative area exceeds an arbitrary preset value, that is, that the spare area of the alternative area has decreased. When
The data recording area in which the usable portion can be used when the usable portion is detected by the re-inspection by the inspection means for re-inspecting the replaced portion which is no longer used by the replacement process previously performed. Is to be registered as.

Since "registering as a usable data recording area" is synonymous with "deleting the record information relating to this area which has been registered as an unusable area", the scope of the claims It goes without saying that the above-mentioned "register" in the above includes the above-mentioned "delete".

The invention according to claim 3 is an invention for effectively using the spare area, and in the recording / reproducing method of the optical disc having the spare area, the spare area is brought into an unused state by the spare processing previously performed. If a usable part that can be used is detected by re-inspecting a certain replaced part, the data originally recorded in this usable part, which was recorded in the replacement area, is written back to this usable part. The spare area vacated by the return is used again as a spare area.

The invention according to claim 7 is an apparatus for carrying out this, and a re-inspection is performed by the same apparatus as the invention according to claim 6, and the usable portion which can be used is detected by this re-inspection. In this case, the write instructing means is instructed to write back the data to be recorded in the usable area recorded in the usable area to the usable area, and the registration area is used to replace the empty area vacated by the writing back. It is designed to be registered as a usable spare area.

The claim 9 is the above claims 7 and 8.
When the re-inspection is performed when the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds the set value as described above, a warning means is provided to issue a warning after the registration as the data recording area or the replacement area by the registration means is completed. This is to notify the user that there is little remaining spare area and call attention to the user.

The invention according to claim 4 is such that the re-inspection is performed when there is no substitute area to be recorded during the replacement process. In this case, the result of the re-inspection is used. When a possible usable portion is detected, the recording is performed in this usable portion.
It should be noted that, as described in claim 5, after the recording process is completed, a warning may be issued as in the invention described in claim 8.

According to the present invention, when the remaining area of the spare area is low, a warning is issued to notify the user that the remaining area of the spare area is small, that is, the optical disk in use has a large number of replacement processes and the state of the optical disk is not so high. It is possible to notify the user that the situation is not good and to make preparations for exchanging the optical disk in advance.

Further, if dust or the like adheres to the optical system of the optical disk device and normal writing or reading cannot be performed, conventionally, the replacement process is continuously performed unless the dust or the like is removed even if the replacement process is performed. As a result, it has been determined that the replacement area becomes insufficient, replacement over occurs, data is lost due to interruption of the writing process, and the optical disk is abnormal.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the replaced part in the unused state is restored to the usable state by the re-inspection, the data recording area and the replacement area are always secured and the replacement over occurs. The probability of doing
In addition, if the optical system is cleaned or the optical disc that has undergone the replacement over is used in another optical disc device, the recording portion that is no longer used due to the replacement process of the optical disc can be reused, and the replacement over does not occur.
This optical disk can be used as a normal one.

Further, even if dust or the like adheres to the optical disk and an error occurs during writing or reading and the replacement is over, if the optical disk is cleaned and reused, a re-inspection will be performed eventually. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the special effect that the replacement over does not occur by reusing the recording portion that has recovered to the usable state.

[0036]

EXAMPLE In this example, a magneto-optical disk is used as an example of an optical disk, and the structure related to the present invention will be described. This magneto-optical disk is ISO 10
It is based on the 090 standard and has a data recording capacity of about 128MB on one side with a diameter of 3.5 inches. As shown in the principle diagram of FIG. 1, the data recording capacity is equivalent to this data recording capacity. DMA (Defect Manageent) that records information for managing the magneto-optical disk outside the area
Area) and an alternative recording area in which an alternative sector for replacing a defective sector in the magneto-optical disk is prepared.

In the above-mentioned DMA area, a DDS (Disk Definition Sector) area in which the management information of this magneto-optical disk and the replacement information including the total number of replacement sectors are recorded, and it is detected by the inspection before the shipment of the disk medium. A PDL (Prima that stores the address of a defective block including a permanently defective sector
ry Defect List) area and SDL (SDL (S) that records replacement information about defective sectors that occurred during use of the disk medium.
The econdary Defect List) area is provided.

Then, in the PDL area, the address of the alternative sector in the alternative storage area obtained by replacing the permanent defective sector having a permanent defect generated at the time of manufacturing the magneto-optical disk by the sector slipping method is the address of the permanent defective sector. The list corresponding to is stored in advance as the first replacement sector list.

Further, regarding the defective sector found during the use of the magneto-optical disk, the alternative sector is used by the linear replacement system in which the data to be recorded in the defective sector is sequentially recorded in the alternative sector. A list in which a defective sector address that is an address and an alternative address that indicates an address of an alternative sector that replaces the defective sector are associated with each other is recorded in the SDL area as a second replacement sector list.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a magneto-optical disk device constructed by applying the present invention, FIGS. 3 to 5 are flowcharts showing an operation example of this embodiment, and FIG. Routine, FIG. 4 shows a replacement routine,
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the reinspection routine.

In FIG. 2 showing the configuration of the embodiment, reference numeral 1 denotes a writable / readable magneto-optical disk, which is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed by a spindle motor 3 under the control of a spindle control circuit 2. There is.

To write data on the magneto-optical disk 1, the signal processing circuit 8 and the optical head are operated in the presence of a magnetic field generated by exciting the bias magnet 6 with a bias current supplied from the bias magnet control circuit 5. Data is written by projecting a light beam, which is modulated by the write data provided via the control circuit 7, from the optical head 4 onto the recording portion of the magneto-optical disk 1.

When reading the data recorded on the magneto-optical disk 1, a light beam is projected from the optical head 4 onto the area to be read on the magneto-optical disk 1 in the absence of a magnetic field generated by the bias magnet. The optical head control circuit 7 converts the reflected light reflected by the read portion into an optical signal, and the signal processing circuit 8 demodulates the optical signal to read the data recorded on the magneto-optical disk 1. As is well known, writing or reading with respect to a disk-shaped data recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk is performed in units of sectors on recording tracks of the disk 1.

The drive controller 10 comprises at least a microcomputer (not shown) and a buffer memory 11. In FIG. 2, among the processing functions of this microcomputer, the functions related to the present invention are "arithmetic means" 12, ". It is shown as "comparing means" 13 and "warning means" 14.

The processing of the main routine in the above embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The step [10] is a step for detecting whether or not the magneto-optical disk is mounted. The step is in a standby state until the magneto-optical disk is mounted, and this step indicates that the magneto-optical disk has been mounted. If it is detected in step S11, the process moves to the next step [11], the DMA area of this magneto-optical disk is read, the management information of the magneto-optical disk from the DDS area, replacement information including the total number of replacement sectors, and PDL area From the first replacement sector list recording the address of the defective block detected by the inspection before shipping the disk medium, and replacement information on the defective sector generated during use of this magneto-optical disk from the SDL area. The second replacement sector list is stored in the buffer memory 11.

The next step [12] is a step of detecting a command from the host, which is in a standby state until the command arrives, and when the write command arrives, the data instructed in the next step [13] is sent. Writing is performed on this magneto-optical disk, and in the following step [14], the written data is read out and verification is performed to compare the written data with the written data.

As a result of this verification, if the written data and the read data match, it means that normal writing has been performed. Therefore, in step [15], it is judged that it is not necessary to perform the replacement process, and step [12] ] Return to the command waiting state, but if the written data and the read data do not match, it means that the writing was not performed correctly, so in step [15] The procedure proceeds to the replacement processing routine [16] to be described.

In the above step [12], the branch of the processing when a command other than the write command arrives from the host is also briefly shown, and the re-inspection command and the eject command are illustrated as examples of specific commands. did.

When this re-inspection command arrives, the routine proceeds to a re-inspection routine [17] which will be described in detail later. When an eject command arrives, the magneto-optical disk is ejected by the medium ejection process of step [18], but the eject button is pressed. The magneto-optical disk is also ejected by operating.

For other commands, the corresponding processing is performed in the routine shown as step [19], and when these processing is completed together with the above-described replacement processing routine, re-inspection routine, and medium ejection processing, Return to step [12] to enter the command standby state.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing in the above-mentioned alternation processing routine. In step [21], the management information of this magneto-optical disk stored in the buffer memory 11 in step [11] of the above-mentioned main routine. From the second replacement sector list, for example, the used amount M of the replacement sector is obtained by calculating the number of used sectors from the number of used bytes on this list, and is prepared as a replacement sector in step [22]. The number A of all the existing sectors is read, and in the following step [23], the number of available replacement sectors (AM) = N is calculated by the calculating means 12.

The calculation result N is compared with "0" by the comparison means 13, and as a result, if N is larger than "0", it means that there is an available replacement sector. The data that should have been written in [13] is written in this usable replacement sector in the replacement processing in step [25].

After that, step [14] of the main routine
It is confirmed by the same verification that the writing is performed correctly, and the replacement information updated by the result of the replacement processing is stored in the buffer memory 11.

In the next step [26], the updated number M'of used replacement sectors is read from the buffer memory 11, and in the following step [27], the preset value K is set.
Is read out from the buffer memory 11 or the like and the calculation means 1
Calculate the value of (K-M ') by 2. Here, the set value K
Indicates the number of replacement sectors that are preferably prepared in a replaceable state.

Regarding this set value K, for example, a value of half of this sector number (512 KB) is obtained by reading the total number of replacement sectors, which is 1024 KB, from the DMA area of the magneto-optical disk.
Alternatively, the calculation means 12 may be used to store this as the set value K in the buffer memory 11, but as another method, the set value K itself may be stored in a ROM or the like in the magneto-optical disk device at the time of shipment. Is stored in the buffer memory when the magneto-optical disk device is started, or the set value K itself is stored in the DMA area of the magneto-optical disk itself when the magneto-optical disk is mounted. This set value K is read and the buffer memory 11
You may make it memorize | store in.

Therefore, in step [28], this (K-M ')
When it is detected that the value of is smaller than “0”, the warning means 14 warns the host that the number of available replacement sectors is remaining, and the user is notified of this magneto-optical signal via this host. Notify that the condition of the disc is deteriorating.

By the way, in step [24] described above, (N>
0), that is, when it is determined that there is no replaceable replacement sector, the re-inspection routine of step [31] is performed,
The sector of the data storage area replaced by the replacement sector as a defective sector is re-examined, and if there is a usable sector in this replacement data recording area, the data recorded in the replacement sector is originally A process of returning to a sector in which it is detected that the data recording area in which the data is to be recorded is available and freeing a spare sector is executed. The details of this re-inspection routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

As a result of the processing by this re-inspection routine, it is judged whether or not there is an available replacement sector in step [32].
If there is an available replacement sector, the replacement process of the above step [25] is executed, but if there is no available replacement sector, a replacement over occurs and the replacement process occurs at step [33]. Notify the host that is not possible.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the details of the processing in the above-mentioned re-inspection routine. Step [41] is the same as step [21] of the replacement processing routine, in which the used amount M of the replacement sector is obtained, and step [ If the usage amount M is "0" in [42], the processing of this routine is ended. However, if it is determined that M> 0, that is, the replacement sector is used, in the next step [43], the main routine is executed. In step [11], the replacement information on the defective sector generated during use, which is read from the SDL area and stored in the buffer memory 11, is read from the second replacement sector list, and dummy data is written to this defective sector.

In the following step [44], the dummy data written in step [43] is read, and in step [45], the data written in step [43] and the data read in step [44] are verified. However, if there are a plurality of defective sectors described above, the number of normal sectors that can be written / read normally is determined by repeating the processing of steps [43] to [45] for each defective sector. .

In step [46], it is judged whether or not the number of normal sectors is larger than "0", that is, whether or not there are normal sectors, and if there are no normal sectors, the processing of this routine ends. If there is a normal sector, move to the next step [47], write back the data recorded in the replacement sector to the normal sector where this data should originally be recorded, empty the replacement sector, and buffer in step [48]. The replacement information recorded in the memory 11 is updated.

In the next steps [49] and [50], the replacement information recorded as the second replacement sector list in the SDL area of the magneto-optical disk is updated with the replacement information updated in the above step [48]. In the recording step, the replacement information in the buffer memory is sorted in the order of the address of the defective sector in the step [49], and the sorted replacement information is recorded in the SDL area of the magneto-optical disk in the step [50]. The existing second replacement sector list is updated, and this re-inspection routine ends.

Since the sorting by the address order of the defective sectors in the above step [49] is based on the ISO standard, this step [4
9] may be omitted. Further, the re-inspection routine described above may be performed when the optical disc is mounted in the apparatus.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the processing based on the second replacement sector list in which the replacement information about the error occurred during use is recorded has been described. Similar processing can be performed using the first replacement sector list in the PDL area.

Although this embodiment has been described with respect to a magneto-optical disk according to the ISO standard, it is particularly explained that it can be similarly applied to various magneto-optical disks not based on this standard and optical disks not using the magneto-optical effect. Needless to say it will be obvious.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the remaining spare area is low, a warning is issued and the user is informed that the spare area is low, that is, the user is informed that the optical disk in use has a lot of replacement processing and the optical disk is in poor condition. Preparations such as exchange of optical disks can be made.

Further, when dust or the like adheres to the optical system of the optical disk device and normal writing or reading cannot be performed, conventionally, the replacement process is continuously performed unless the dust or the like is removed even if the replacement process is performed. As a result, it has been determined that the replacement area becomes insufficient, replacement over occurs, data is lost due to interruption of the writing process, and the optical disk is abnormal.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the replaced portion in the unused state is restored to the usable state by the reinspection, the data recording area and the replacement area are always secured and the replacement over occurs. You can reduce the probability of doing.

Furthermore, if the optical system is cleaned or the optical disk in which the replacement is over is used in another optical disk device, the recording portion which is not used due to the replacement processing of the optical disk can be reused, and the replacement over occurs. After that, the optical disk can be used as normal one.

Also, if dust or the like adheres to the optical disk and an error occurs during writing or reading and the replacement is over, if the optical disk is cleaned and reused, a re-inspection will be carried out eventually. Therefore, if there is a recorded portion that has been restored to a usable state, this portion can be used again to prevent the occurrence of replacement over, which is a special effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a main routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a replacement processing routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a reinspection routine according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ...... Writable / readable optical disk 2 ...... Spindle control circuit 3 ...... Spindle motor 4 ...... Optical head 5 …… Bias magnet control circuit 6 …… Bias magnet 7 …… Optical head control circuit 8 …… Signal processing circuit 9 ...... Bus 10 ...... Drive controller 11 ...... Buffer memory 12 ...... Calculation means 13 ...... Comparison means 14 ...... Warning means

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A recording / reproducing method for an optical disc having an alternative area, wherein a warning is issued when the usage amount of the alternative area exceeds a predetermined set value. 2. A recording / reproducing method for an optical disc having an alternative area, wherein a spare part in an unused state is re-examined by a spare process previously performed on a data recording area, and a usable usable part for the spare part is used. A recording / reproducing method for an optical disc, wherein the usable portion is reused if there is a usable portion. 3. A method of recording / reproducing an optical disc having an alternative area, wherein a replacement part which is in an unused state is re-examined by the replacement process previously performed, and if there is a usable part, it is recorded in the replacement area. A method for recording / reproducing an optical disk, characterized in that the data to be recorded in this usable portion is written back to this usable portion, and the spare area vacated by this write back is reused as a spare area. . 4. A method of recording / reproducing an optical disc having an alternative area, wherein when there is no alternative area to be recorded during the replacement process, the replaced part in the unused state is re-examined by the replacement process previously performed. If there is a usable portion that can be used, recording is performed on the usable portion. 5. The optical disk recording / reproducing method according to claim 4, wherein a warning is issued after the recording process on the usable portion, which has been detected to be usable by the re-inspection, is finished. 6. A usage amount detecting means for detecting a usage amount of the alternative area, a comparing means for comparing a usage amount of the alternative area from the usage amount detecting means with an arbitrary preset value, and A recording / reproducing apparatus for an optical disc, comprising: a warning means for issuing a warning when the comparison means detects that the usage amount exceeds an arbitrary preset value. 7. A usage amount detecting means for detecting a usage amount of the alternative area, a comparing means for comparing a usage amount of the alternative area from the usage amount detecting means with a preset value, and a usage amount of the alternative area. When the comparison means detects that the value exceeds a preset arbitrary set value, the inspection means for re-inspecting the replaced portion that has been no longer used due to the replacement processing previously performed, and the inspection means A recording / reproducing apparatus for an optical disc, comprising: a registration means for registering the usable portion as a usable data recording area when the usable portion is detected by inspection. 8. A usage amount detecting means for detecting a usage amount of the alternative area, a comparing means for comparing a usage amount of the alternative area from the usage amount detecting means with a preset value, and a usage amount of the alternative area. When the comparison means detects that the value exceeds a preset arbitrary set value, the inspection means for re-inspecting the replaced portion that has been no longer used due to the replacement processing previously performed, and the inspection means If the usable portion that can be used is detected by the inspection, write instruction means for instructing to write back the data to be recorded in the usable portion recorded in the spare area to the usable portion. A recording / reproducing apparatus for an optical disc, comprising: a registration unit configured to register the spare area vacated by the writing back as a usable spare area. 9. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising warning means for issuing a warning after the writing process according to the instruction of the writing instructing means is completed.