OPTICAL RECORDING/REPRODUCTION DEVICE

An optical read/write apparatus according to an embodiment includes: an optical head unit (2a, 2b) which focuses a write light beam and a read light beam onto an optical storage medium (100) and which generates a signal based on the light beam that has been reflected from the optical storage medium; and a control section (6) which controls the optical head unit (2a, 2b) so that the optical head unit records a mark on the optical storage medium by irradiating the optical storage medium with the write light beam and reads the recorded mark on the optical storage medium with the read light beam. After having started to record the mark on the optical storage medium by irradiating the optical storage medium with the write light beam and before forming the recorded mark completely, the optical head unit (2a, 2b) reads the recorded mark on the optical storage medium with the read light beam.