Abstract: A system for recording on a rewritable (erasable) optical disk is provided which reduces the data integrity exposure and negative performance impact of separate erase and write passes when writing data to such a disk in a disk drive. In a preferred embodiment, the system includes a non-volatile storage buffer established and maintained by a driver at a level below the file system. Space in the buffer is kept pre-erased for temporarily storing blocks of data transmitted by a host device and destined for sectors in a logical partition on a rewritable optical disk. Mapping and control information are also maintained in the buffer. In a background operation, transparent to the host, the blocks of data are copied from the buffer to their destination sectors in the logical partition. The buffer can be located on the optical disk itself or can be on a separate device, such as non-volatile random access memory or magnetic media.