Apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information and/or optical information record disk

An apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from an optical record disk, said apparatus comprising:

• an optical head including a semiconductor laser for emitting a laser beam, an objective lens for projecting the laser beam emitted by said semiconductor laser onto the optical record disk, a first photo-detecting means for receiving a return laser beam reflected by the optical record disk to produce an information signal, and a second photo-detecting means for detecting a part of light emitted from the semiconductor laser;
• a carriage having said optical head arranged thereon and being movable in a reciprocal manner between innermost and outermost positions of the optical record disk in a radial direction of the optical record disk;
• a disk driving means including a movable block arranged movably between a first position and a second position relative to said optical record disk, a movable block driving means for moving said movable block between said first position and said second position, a turntable for supporting the optical record disk, and a spindle motor secured to said movable block and having a driving shaft coupled with said turntable for rotating the turntable together with the optical record disk;
• a position detecting means for detecting a position of said movable block to derive a position signal when the movable block is driven into said first position;
• and
• a control means for energizing said semiconductor laser after confirming that said position signal has been generated by said position detecting means and said carriage has been driven into said innermost position of the optical record disk, and for initiating focus search or focus control after confirming that laser light emitted by the semiconductor laser has been received by said second photo-detecting means.