A drive apparatus of the present invention includes: a recording/reproduction section and a drive control section. The drive control section performs a process including: receiving a recording instruction including a location at which data is to be recorded; determining a track among at least one tracks corresponding to the location included in the recording instruction; controlling the recording/reproduction section to record data at a replacement location in the user data area instead of the location included in the recording instruction; determining whether or not the recording of the data at the replacement location in the user data area has succeeded; and when the recording of the data at the replacement location in the user data area has failed, controlling the recording/reproduction section to record the data at a location in the spare area.