An ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording head ejecting ink; a buffer tank temporarily storing the ink; a mounting unit to which a main tank that stores the ink is capable of being mounted, the main tank having a first supply port from which the ink is supplied to the recording head and a second supply port from which the ink is supplied to the buffer tank; a first detecting unit detecting an ink volume in the main tank; and a control unit performing a discharge operation to discharge the ink in the buffer tank from the recording head via the main tank in a pre-transportation process in the ink jet recording apparatus. The control unit prompts a user to replace the main tank without performing the discharge operation if the ink volume detected by the first detecting unit is smaller than a threshold value.