general question - writing on DVD disc surface

[harry349]

THE BACKGROUND

I have blank DVD discs that have a completely blank shiny top surface. They work great, and I believe them to be TDK brand, as Nero and DVD Decrypter indicate they are.

I wanted to write a brief note on them with a felt tip pen (i.e. sharpie) so in case they get mixed up from their case I can tell what's on the disc without popping it into the DVD player.

I was a little concerned about doing so on the shiny silver disc tops; most discs (CDs) I've dealt with before have some sort of extra coating that I've written on without much reservation.


THE QUESTION

Does anyone know for sure (or have any experience that would indicate one way or the other) if writing on the non-burning surface of such a disc would be OK for the disc?

[Gil T Pleasure]

I've done it on CDs with no problem. Don't know about DVDs though.

[Artur]

Hi,
in my case, i had no probs. All my dvd discs are marked with the movie title. Work gteat! Don´t use labels!!!!!
Seeyya!

[DirtyAbdul]

so far, i have no problems with permanent markers. actually, to answer your question, i gave it a try and finished extracting an 8 month old ISO of a silver top TDK DVD-R and a 7 month old RitekG03 -- no problems.

but what i suggest is that you use a sharpie with the finest tip because i observed that the penetration depths of the ink seems to be higher with thick tips. you can verify it by writing on the DVD surface with 2 different markers, leaving them dry for a few days, and then trying to remove the writing with rubbing alcohol. i know, it's not necesarily a recommended procedure, but it does work for me ;) . thick markers would still leave some traces of ink behind...

i am now using labels; not the usual CD/DVD labels that would cover the whole surface of the DVD, but labels that come out from labeling machines. i have a brother PT-1900 that uses laminated TZ tapes (from 6 to 18 mm or 1/4 to 3/4 inches) for about 2 months now. although this is still in experimental stage because of the short time of use, it works great so far. i bought this machine at officemax when it was on sale for around $60 (?) instead of $80 or so...

DA