The present invention relates to a recording medium and apparatus and method for managing a defective area of the recording medium. According to an embodiment, the method includes (a) determining whether there is an available replacement block in a spare area and a found defective block is controlled by a linear replacement algorithm; (b) managing a defective data block based on the determination, such that the defective data block is replaced with the replacement block of the spare area if there is the available replacement block and the found defective data block is controlled by the linear replacement algorithm; and (c) recording a defect list to the recording medium, wherein the defect list includes first position information specifying the location of defective data block, second position information specifying the location of replacement block and identification information specifying that the defective data block is replaced.