Pens for Writing on the Back of a CD or DVD?

[solarblast]

I'm told that many felt pens are not suitable for writing labels on the back of a CD or DVD, particularly permanent pens. I have some Sharpies. I visited a stationery store today and see that Sharpie makes some for the task, but they gave no hint as to what ingredients are in them that are different from the regular ones. Stadent (?) also sold some pens for the same purpose. Again, there is not enough info to tell me what chemicals are in them that distinguish them from other pens.


Comments on any part of this? What is the problem? Do the colors bleed through the disk material or do they eat through it to the recording side?

[guns1inger]

None of mine have. I have used sharpies for many years without a problem.

[oldandinthe way]

I use Sharpies without problem

[MOVIEGEEK]

Regular Sharpies(what I use) are isopropyl alcohol based and CD/DVD "safe" markers are water based:
http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub121/sec5.html

BTW...never use a solvent based marker(eg acetone,toluene) or ball point pen.

[solarblast]

Sounds good to me. I'll continue to use the regular Sharpies. Those others carried a steep price.

[dlflannery]

Sharpie Retractibles !! Ultra convenient!

[solarblast]

I bought some retracts and I like them.

Now for a twist on my original question. Is it possible to remove the marking from the CD/DVD? I might want to reuse one, and would like to change what I wrote on it.

[budz]

I bought some retracts and I like them.

Now for a twist on my original question. Is it possible to remove the marking from the CD/DVD? I might want to reuse one, and would like to change what I wrote on it.

Why do you think they call those sharpies permanent markers for!!!!

[solarblast]

How about glass? Is it permanent on glass?

[painkiller]

Cyberguys.com has what they call cd/dvd safe felt markers.

The interesting thing is the package comes with an eraser.

[redwudz]

I use 70-99% isopropyl alcohol and a paper towel to wash off mistakes made with a Sharpie on a DVD. It doesn't seem to damage the plastic surface. If the marker has been on there a while, it won't clean it all off, but it's enough to rewrite a new title.

I use the silver topped Taiyo Yuden disks. The white topped discs are probably harder to clean.

[yoda313]

Cyberguys.com has what they call cd/dvd safe felt markers.

The interesting thing is the package comes with an eraser.

Got a direct link? I might be interested in those for my settop dvd recorder - I use a lot of rewritables and keeping them organized is tuff.


EDIT:

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?productID=2842

Cool looking might be worth it - pretty cheap too..... hmmm.....

[hudsonf]

I clean the ink off my disc with a waterless hand cleaner such as GoJo. I put a little cleaner on a rag and wipe gently. Don't use the one with pumice because it's gritty.

[kurbads]

I usually use any permament marker which gets on hand. I wash them with 96% etil alcohol wich I buy on the flee market. Never had a problem. Also I use the same alcohol to unglue paper covers. I just drown the disk for few minutes and then it easely tears off. Do not leave the CD for whole night in alcohol. The paper label will come off with silver layer . Once I even had a commercial DVD with paper label. It did not play nor read until I unglued the label. Never stick paper labels on DVD. On CDs its safe, but DVDs stop playing/reading probably because of infrared radiation paper labels create when heated.

[handyguy]

There are a lot of Sharpie topics over the years in the forum & everyone uses them just fine. If you have any questions, refer to sharpie.com they have the answers.

[usually_quiet]

I am probably the only one who has never used a regular Sharpie for labeling CD’s and DVD’s. I too read somewhere that they could damage discs, so I’ve always used markers made just for labeling discs. From what everyone here is saying, I guess this is just another old wives tale.

For what it’s worth, I use Staedtler Lumocolor CD/DVD markers, purchased at my local Office Depot store about a year ago as a set of 4 (red, blue, green, and black) in a translucent hard plastic case. They smell like alcohol is used for the solvent.

Isopropyl alcohol removes most of the ink, although usually not all of it. However, I find that alcohol can dissolve the frosted coating manufacturers use to brand discs and create a writing surface. Maybe I’ll give the hand cleaner a try the next time.

For labeling re-writables I use a pad of paper inserts that came with a 100 count box of multi-colored Memorex slim CD cases purchased at Sam’s.

[handyguy]

I once wrote on the data side with a sharpie but the disk worked fine.