Optical disc having variable spare area rates and method for variably setting the rate of spare areas in the optical disc

A method for setting spare areas of corresponding main zones of an optical disk, said method comprising:

• configuring an optical disk with a series of several main areas structured and arranged to store digital data, each main area having a single contiguous spare area associated therewith;
• and
• variably setting a ratio between a size of each contiguous spare area to a size of each main area associated therewith, wherein the ratio of the size of the spare areas to the size of the corresponding main areas increases from a substantially central radial position on the disk toward at least one of an inner radial position on the disk and an outer radial position on the disk.

An optical disk, comprising:

• a plurality of concentric zones, each zone including at least one main area for storing data and at least one spare area for storing data when the main area includes a defect, each zone having a spare area ratio equal to a ratio of a total size of spare areas in the zone to a total size of main areas in the zone, wherein the spare area ratio increases from a substantially central radial position on the disk toward at least one of an inner radial position on the disk and an outer radial position on the disk.