RECORDING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZED OVERWRITING

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a corresponding method for recording information in an information layer of a record carrier ( 10 ) by irradiating the information layer ( 101 ) by means of a radiation beam ( 12 ), said information layer ( 101 ) having a phase reversibly changeable between a crystalline phase and an amorphous phase. In order to ensure that previously written marks are completely erased, irrespective of the mark width which may be the result of a different writer used for recording such a previously written marks, a recording apparatus is proposed comprising: -a radiation source ( 11 ) for emitting said radiation beam for writing, erasing and/or reading information, -a control unit ( 15 ) operative for controlling the power of said radiation beam, -a detection unit ( 16 ) for detecting previously written marks in said information layer and for determining the mark widths of previously written marks, wherein said control unit ( 15 ) is adapted for controlling write parameters for writing information based on the mark width of previously written marks.