Abstract: The invention relates to a device for recording recordable media, for example recordable DVD media types, a number of which is currently available in the market Upon receipt of a medium and assessment that the medium is a recordable medium, the device attempts to recognize it, i.e. to recognize its media type. If the recordable medium is not recognized, a reading operation is anyway performed. In this way it is left open the possibility to access recordable media belonging to a recordable media type unknown to the device but from which the device can nevertheless read, e.g. a newly introduced media type belonging to a media family known to the device. If applied to a device for recoding DVD, the invention makes it possible to read from a DVD+R9 medium. The invention further relates to a method for accessing a medium.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method for recording information on a multi layer record carrier. The information is recorded on the record carrier according to special filling patterns, such that the record carrier is compatible with the DVD-ROM standard while the time required for closing a session and/or finalizing the disc is reduced. The information is substantially evenly distributed over the layers in blocks of a predefined amount of storage space. The size of these blocks may be flexible and set by the method or read from the record carrier.