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. |