Apparatus and methods for minimizing non-recordable areas and numbers of parts per track on a digital recording medium

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for recording digital data utilizing a digital recording system having a recording area. The method includes a recording step and an erasing step. The recording step includes recording a first digital sequence in the recording area. The first digital sequence is then both preceded by and followed by a non-recordable area. The erasing step includes erasing the first digital sequence, as well as both non-recordable areas from the recording area, pursuant to a command to erase the first digital sequence. A start address and an end address is kept in a management area of the recording medium for each digital sequence stored in the recording area. When a command to erase the first digital sequence is received, a magnetic head and an optical pick-up sequentially erase from an address following an end address of a preceding sequence to an address preceding a start address of a succeeding sequence. Information on start and end addresses of digital sequences and their positions with respect to each other both physically on the disk and as they are read pursuant to a read command is stored in tabular form in the management area. An apparatus for performing the above operations is also provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.