OT: What to label the DVD's with?

[Nestor]

Special-marking-pens

or

Printed CD labels?


Clearly one looks better, but how long does it last and does it damage the media?

[timzebo]

For quick & easy labels, I use a Brother P-Touch Labeler.
Most large office supply stores (e.g., Staples) carry them.
They're inexpensive & so are the tapes. They have
5 different sizes of fonts so you can get even long
labels for the CD across the diameter of the disk.

One thing I'm curious about: Does the tape adhesive
do any long-term damage to a CD?

[MichaelT]

It is generally regarded as bad practice to put labels on CDs. There is the issue of the adhesive, and there is the issue of unbalance when trying to read the disc.

And NEVER try to remove a label once it is on the disc. It can render the disc as unreadable.

Regarding markers..most people regard Sharpie Markers as OK (but not the super fine pioint becuase it can physically damage the surface). The "Sharpie" company does not guanrentee anything but they publicly state that they have never had a report of a damaged disc from a Sharpie marker. Most people consider them safe.

There are other specific markers made for this job that may or may not be better.

There are some note about this in the FAQ section in this thread...
http://www.pictureflow.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=704&highlight=sharpie
Check my long post in the center of the thread.

The safest method is to use the Sharpie or other safe pen and only write within the center hub, where no data is present to damage.

[timzebo]

Thanks for the links

The P-Touch labels are very thin and light
(not at all like the old Dymo plastic labels).
I doubt if they affect the CD balance.
In any case I've used them for about 2 yrs
and have never had any problems reading
an archived disk.

I've never done any research into the
long-term affects of the adhesive on the disk--until today :-)
Your post motivated me to contact Brother about this
issue. If I hear anything from them, I'll let you know in
another post.

Thanks again

[MichaelT]

I have also used P-Touch labels on CDs (not CD-Rs) and never had a problem but CD-Rs are more sensitive. All of what I wrote is to be as secure as possible. It is possible that labels and other techniques in a given situation will work fine, but I am just trying to put out conservative information. The CD-R is not a perfect medium, and for long term archive one should take all the precausions that one can.

Regarding the off-balance with a label, just realize that when a CD is read at 48X the linear velocity is VERY high for a non-contained disc.

Thanks for your input..

[timzebo]

I agree.

I just noticed the original question was
about labeling DVDs. My apologies if this question
is in the archives, but can you tell us how fragile
DVD media are relative to CD-Rs, etc.?

Thanks.

[MichaelT]

It is my understanding that there is a .6mm polycarbonate layer on the top surface of a recordable DVD (unlike a CD-R/RW). So the DVD should be fairly immune to the issues that affect the recordable CDs top surface. The cautions about labels still apply because of the chance to become unbalanced at high speed, but I would imagagine that removing the label would not cause damage as it would on a CD-R where the removing of the label could also remove the thin laquor coating that protects the reflective layer.

So unlike the CD-R where the top (label) surface is so delicate, the DVD should be more robust. Of course you still need to protect the bottom (data) surface from scratches, etc.

[timzebo]

Here's Brother Corp.'s response to my qustion,
"Can the P-Touch tapes be used to label computer CDs or
will they do damage to the disk?"

From: Ask PTmgr <ask.ptmgr@brother.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 11:40:08 -0500
To: 'Tim Zebo'
Subject: RE: PT-2600

The can be used to label the outside cases, but we do not recommend using
them on the cd's themselves. When a CD is played, it spins rapidly and
unless the label is perfectly balanced, it could cause problems with reading
the cd correctly.

Thank you for your interest in P-Touch electronic labeling systems and in
contacting the Product Manager.

[MichaelT]

Thanks for confirming.