When a recording menu screen is selected by a remote controller 13, a control unit 10 enters a recording programming mode to display the recording menu screen on a monitor 8. When any optional video file is selected from the list on said recording menu screen by a user, the area of the selected video file is registered as a recordable area and a recording programming screen is displayed on the monitor 8 to enable recording programming. Upon completion of the recording programming, when the control unit 10 enters a recording operation mode, it records the video data in a selected area on an HDD 10, and if the recording operation is not completed even when the video data is recorded until said area becomes full, continuously records the video data in a vacant area of the HDD 5.
A hard disk recording apparatus including: a receiving unit for receiving programs; a reservation data receiving unit for accepting input of reservation recording data including reservation recording starting time; a reservation data storing unit for storing the reservation recording data; a recording unit for recording the programs on a hard disk based on the reservation recording data, and having a self-diagnosis function for detecting the presence or absence of abnormalities of the hard disk; and a control unit for executing the self-diagnosis if the main body is in the standby state and there is a spare time a spare time more than a time required for the self-diagnosis by a next reservation recording starting time, and not executing the self-diagnosis if the main body is not in the standby state or there is not a spare time more than a time required for the self-diagnosis.
