Recording and/or reproducing apparatus and method of controlling same

Abstract

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording data on and/or reproducing data from a recording medium includes a recording and/or reproducing unit, a memory, a memory controller, and a servo, control circuit, and a system controller. The memory temporarily stores data outputted from the recording and/or reproducing unit or input data to be recorded on the recording medium by the recording and/or reproducing unit. The memory controller controls the memory to write and read data such that data are read from the memory in a unit of time at a transfer rate lower than the transfer rate at which data are written in the memory in a unit of time. The servo control circuit supplies a servo control signal to the recording and/or reproducing means, and has an adjustable servo control gain. The system controller controls operation of the recording and/or reproducing unit, the memory controller, and the servo control circuit. The input data are recorded on the recording medium through the memory and the data reproduced from the recording medium are outputted through the memory. The system controller temporarily interrupts the recording of data on the recording medium or the reproducing of data from the recording medium with the recording and/or reproducing unit based on the amount of data stored in the memory, and controls the servo control circuit and the recording and/or reproducing unit to automatically adjust the servo control gain while the recording or reproducing of data is temporarily interrupted.