Data recording and reproducing apparatus having a plurality of operating modes

A data recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data in unit of sector to a disk-shaped data recording medium, which comprises:

• sector detecting means for detecting a target sector to which recording/reproduction of data is executed and detecting a defective sector having an inappropriate address;
• data reproducing means for demodulating a reproducing signal from said target sector to perform error detection/correction and detecting an unrecorded sector;
• transfer data preserving means for temporarily preserving a read data read out from said target sector and a write data to be recorded into said target sector;
• control data preserving means for temporarily preserving a volume control block having control data of respective areas defined on said medium and all defect lists cited below;
• data recording means for adding an error correction code to said write data preserved by said transfer data preserving means and said control data preserving means, and modulating the same to record the same to said target sector;
• interface control means for controlling transfer of commands or data to and from a host computer;
• area allocating means for allocating a sequential access zone consisting of a data area, a C list area and a G list area, a random access zone consisting of a data area, a spare area and an R list area, and a volume control area;
• C defect management means for forming a C defect list which manages defective sectors detected through certification of all the sectors included in said data area of the sequential access zone;
• area control means for forming said volume control block;
• area discriminating means for discriminating in which zone, sequential access zone or random access zone, a data recording area or a data reproducing area is included;
• address setting means for indicating a target sector while skipping defective sectors registered in said C defect list in said sequential access zone, whereas, indicating a spare sector as a target sector in place of the defective sector registered in an R defect list in said random access zone;
• G defect management means for forming a G defect list for managing a defective sector detected in the recording process in said sequential access zone;
• spare sector allocating means for allocating a spare sector to a defective sector detected in said random access zone;
• and
• R defect management means for forming said R defect list for managing defective sectors detected in said random access zone.