i read this on suppermediastore,com, ( Many people use markers to write on the surface of their CDs and DVDs when labeling their media. What most people do not know is that using markers, such as Sharpies, ballpoint pens, or any other sharp object can be very damaging to the media. Most markers contain chemicals that create oxidation, which can deteriorate the CD/DVD media. The oxidation can ruin the aluminum, which covers the surface of the media and ultimately can destroy the data on the disc. Additionally, these types of markers can damage the physical structure of the disc. ) has anyone had trouble useing a sharpie on dvds
I haven't had any trouble using sharpies for a little over 3 years now, but then again I do always buy the discs wich are printable on so this probably protects the actual writing surface from the oxidation they are talking about. I could see this possibly happening if you are just using standard DVD disks. I just took out one of my early day DVDs (3 years old) and played it. It seems to be still working just fine and it has been written on with a sharpie (TY printable disc) I would imagine a much lessor quality disc such as Memorex would probably not have the same outcome however.
never had any problems with the sharpies either ! paper labels which I don't use big problems ! I did try a few at first when I did'nt know better & I found out why you don't so I'm sharpie man for now unless I get an epson R-series later on !
I have the Epson 300R and still use the sharpies! Don't get me wrong the Epson works great and I used it for a little while, but I think I just got to damn lazy (and tired of replacing ink)and went back to the good old sarpie!
DVDs are two pieces of polycarbonate plastic bonded together. No damage can be done to the upper piece with a Sharpie unless brute force is used to change the physical shape of the disc. That goes for all DVDs. As for CD-Rs, the upper surface is protected only by a lacquer coating below the label ink. These media can be damaged much more easily than DVDs if the chemicals in the writing medium eats through the ink/lacquer surface and opens the silver alloy (not aluminum) to oxidation. The chemicals themselves do not oxidize the silver unless they contain sulphur. CD-Rs are also much more susceptible to pressure from a writing stylus; so care should be taken in using as little pressure as possible when writing. Ball-point pens are no good because they rely on pressure to move the transfer ball.
Blue,black,red,orange and even green..got a color for every type of movie ie. horror,family,action...
Been using the EPSON R300 for printable media and sharpies for regular 1st class media and I never had any issue whatsoever.
What's the big deal? If you ever think a "Sharpie" has caused your backup to deteriorate, just make another one from you original DVD. Besides, there is nothing "sharp" about a Sharpie......
Have used a fine point permanent sharpie for years. My early discs play just fine. By the way if you ever want to change what you have written on a disc (even with permanent marker) you can use de-solv-it which you can buy in the cleaning supply department of a store like Walmart. It comes in handy every once in a while. If you never use anything sharp like a ballpoint, there shouldn't be a problem.
