Abstract: A data recording device including recording media having a set of at least two alternate regions thereon for each data segment, whereby each data segment has a corresponding set of at least two alternate regions on the recording media; a transducer positionable to write data on and read data from the recording media; and a controller for recording one or more data segments on the recording media in response to one or more write commands, the controller including a selector wherein for each of said one or more data segments the selector selects one region from the set of alternate regions corresponding to that data segment and positions the transducer to write that data segment on the selected region. To reduce the access time for each write operation, the selector selects the one region from the set of alternate regions based on shortest access time required to access each of the regions in the set of alternate regions for recording data.