Sharpies destroy CD's????

[PIX SHOOTER]

I went to my first Computer Graphic class today and the instructor said that the ink (acid) in Sharpies eats into a CD in a few years. He said 6 or 8 years, I forget, but anyone ever heard of this? ALL my Cd's are written on. He also said that there is a Sharpie out there that is acid free.

 

[PalmsWestPhoto]

This is a quote frm SanfordCorp who makes sharpies

--------------
Is the Sharpie marker safe for writing on CD's?

Sanford has used Sharpie Markers on CDs for years and we have never experienced a problem. We do not believe that the Sharpie ink can affect these CDs, however we have not performed any long-term laboratory testing to verify this. We have spoken to many major CD manufacturers about this issue. They use the Sharpie Markers on CDs internally as well, and do not believe that the Sharpie Ink will cause any harm to their products.
-------------

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

 

[Roger Schliefert]

I, like yourself have been using a sharpie for years without any problems. It seems like there's a debate out there on this issue with no clear answers. Here's a web site from Roxio that says it's okay.
http://www.roxio.com/en/support/discs/discprinting.html

 

[PIX SHOOTER]

I hope it is safe. The instructor said that recent testing showed this....How old is the data that you guys are reading? I see that the Roxio site below is from year 2000. I will try to see if he has a site or anything to back up his claims but I don't want to get on teacher's bad side during first week of class. I don't see where he has anything to gain except scaring the hell out of us. lol About the long term testing mentioned above. I left out that he said it takes 6 or 8 years for the cd's to go bad. He recommended putting cd in a cd envelope and marking it. Maybe he has stock in cd envelope company? ha He also said to get name brand Cd's. Not sure why.My mind was wandering by that time..Have not been to college in 20 years and the young ladies are as distracting now as they were then~ ;-)))))

I, like yourself have been using a sharpie for years without any
problems. It seems like there's a debate out there on this issue
with no clear answers. Here's a web site from Roxio that says it's
okay.
http://www.roxio.com/en/support/discs/discprinting.html

 

[Jay Turberville]

I went to my first Computer Graphic class today and the instructor
said that the ink (acid) in Sharpies eats into a CD in a few years.
He said 6 or 8 years, I forget, but anyone ever heard of this? ALL
my Cd's are written on. He also said that there is a Sharpie out
there that is acid free.

The problem is one of good data. Nobody (that I know of) has really done the testing one way or other to prove or disprove the point.

However, it is known that the label side of a CD is very thin. I have taken a knife and separated (by scraping) the label and underlying reflective film off of old CDs that had been written on with a Sharpie. (I do this before disposing of certain old CDs to make sure they never get read by anyone.) On some discs, I could see a ghost image of Sharpie writing on the clear polycarbonate substrate that remained. So the Sharpie penetrated the label, metal reflective layer and organic dye layer to eventually impact the polycarbonate layer. Maybe no harm was done, but it didn't make me comfortable.

My thinking is that if the marker gives a distinct odor, then it is probably presenting a risk. Water based markers made for the purpose are very inexpensive. I bought a set of four a few years back and three of the four are still going strong. And we've marked hundreds of CDs. Why take a chance for the price of a few dollars.

If you MUST use a Sharpie, consider writing in an area with no underlying data (not all discs use the full capacity) and/or write in the hub area. A lot of CDs are used for very temporary purposes. So I wouldn't think twice about using a Sharpie on a disc that won't be used for archival purposes.

DVDs, have a thick polycarbonate layer on both sides. So it is probably quite safe to use just about anything you want on the label side of a DVD.

--
Jay Turberville
http://www.jayandwanda.com

 

[PalmsWestPhoto]

i have CD's that where written on with sharpies that are 8 - 10 years old no problem

But more important CD's do not last long term anyway so you should recopy CD's after a few years to new media

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

 

[Susan Morris]

I did read somewhere (which I could remember the source) that a Sharpie marker's ink will damage a CD or DVD in about 100-150 years. If that's true, I think I'll let my great-great-grandkids worry about it. Can you even imagine what they'll be taking pictures with and storing them on?

 

[PIX SHOOTER]

I read on a thread somewhere about recopying all the Cd's..That must get difficult when you get into the hundreds of cd's. Anybody do it yet? Are there any options besides re-copy all the cd's over again? I guess we are hoping technology will come up with somthing in a year or two.I have only been using Cd's for 3 years.

i have CD's that where written on with sharpies that are 8 - 10
years old no problem

But more important CD's do not last long term anyway so you should
recopy CD's after a few years to new media

--
Michael Salzlechner
http://www.PalmsWestPhoto.com

 

[volosong]

.....He also said to get name brand Cd's. Not sure why.....

Basically QC and materials used. I go one step further and only use CDs that were manufactured in Japan or Formosa. The higher quality CDs are violet/purple colored on their write side, but you can't see that when they are packaged for sale. To be safe, I just read to label to see where they were made.

--

• Steven

 

[beyondalldoubt]

I drive a cab in Las Vegas, and I interview ALOT of my passengers. There are some very definitive reasons why the storage industry refuses to consider optical media. Number one being that delamination of optical media is a universal problem that makes the medium patently unreliable.

My solution to long-term storage is to use large capacity external hard drives. These will last for 5 to 10 years, depending on how long you run them over that time. At a cost of basically $1/Gb., I have no problem with that. Within that time, new media and data transfer standards will evolve, and I will transfer to those new forms, hundreds of gigs at a time.

You may recall that Sony developed optical media that stored up to 1 Tb. per disk. That has been abandoned, in favor of tape. ALL of the database archive specialists are using tape. People like banks, supermarket chains, and others who maintain databases of 5 Tb.+ Study hard in the storage media forum, and over time, you will understand that optical media is definitely NOT the way to go.

 

[PIX SHOOTER]

Thanks for the tip. I heard somethnig like that when I first bought Cd's but forgot the color. But they told me something about the color on the side of the cd. Hmmmm.....Now you will have people checking their labels.. lol I don't think I have ever seen a violet or purple colored one. Mine are all silver? and they are made in Memorex=Taiwan and Sony=Taiwan.

.....He also said to get name brand Cd's. Not sure why.....

Basically QC and materials used. I go one step further and only
use CDs that were manufactured in Japan or Formosa. The higher
quality CDs are violet/purple colored on their write side, but you
can't see that when they are packaged for sale. To be safe, I just
read to label to see where they were made.

--

• Steven

 

[PIX SHOOTER]

You have the perfect job for some interesting photos!!! I can just imagine the candid and posed snaps that you could get!!! Vegas Taxi Cab Confessions...lol I'm serious...

I drive a cab in Las Vegas, and I interview ALOT of my passengers.
There are some very definitive reasons why the storage industry
refuses to consider optical media. Number one being that
delamination of optical media is a universal problem that makes the
medium patently unreliable.
My solution to long-term storage is to use large capacity external
hard drives. These will last for 5 to 10 years, depending on how
long you run them over that time. At a cost of basically $1/Gb., I
have no problem with that. Within that time, new media and data
transfer standards will evolve, and I will transfer to those new
forms, hundreds of gigs at a time.
You may recall that Sony developed optical media that stored up to
1 Tb. per disk. That has been abandoned, in favor of tape. ALL of
the database archive specialists are using tape. People like
banks, supermarket chains, and others who maintain databases of 5
Tb.+ Study hard in the storage media forum, and over time, you
will understand that optical media is definitely NOT the way to go.

 

[rennie12]

it simply makes good sense NOT to write on the data back.

Just put a code # on the hub and keep your written records elsewhere - like the paper slot in the CD. I use the date written 050824A, B, C for additional CDs. This is 8/24/05 - why write 050824 ? - so I get used - and I have gotten used - to reading it in that format. Why that format ? - because dates written in this format sort correctly in any program that can sort...

--
'God gives nuts... but he does not crack them'

• German proverb

 

[eshropshire]

Yes I have recopied all of my CDs to DVD. I have 3 copies of each of my DVDs. I also have recopied the DVD collection once as an additional backup.

BTW I have tested some of my oldest CDs and they still work, I have yet to find a bad CD. All of them are stored in a dark and very dry area. I keep hearing about people storing their collection of hard drives, but after 20 years in the computer business I can count many hard drives that have gone bad, but I have not had problems with my CDs.

The only problem I have ever had with DVDs was some bad burns resulting in corrupted files on the DVD, I reburned the content with a slower speed - like I should have done in the first time and all went well.
--
Ed
http://www.cbrycelea.com/photos/

 

[JoePhoto]

My mind was wandering by that time..Have not been to college in
20 years and the young ladies are as distracting now as they were
then~ ;-)))))

I have returned to college after 20 years .... and they are MORE DISTRACTING !!!

--
Thanks for reading .... JoePhoto

( Do You Ever STOP to THINK --- and FORGET to START Again ??? )

 

[PIX SHOOTER]

Joe...Wait til you try to make some conversation and you gat called Sir..lol
That wakes ya up quick..hahahaaaa..

My mind was wandering by that time..Have not been to college in
20 years and the young ladies are as distracting now as they were
then~ ;-)))))

I have returned to college after 20 years .... and they are MORE
DISTRACTING !!!

--
Thanks for reading .... JoePhoto

( Do You Ever STOP to THINK --- and FORGET to START Again ??? )

 

[Shaun Williamson]

Tape isn't exactly trouble free either and tapes don't last forever and need
to be kept in temperature controlled storage. Banks etc keep lots of
backups of their vast amounts of data so if a tape goes bad its not the
end of the world.
There does not seem to be any infallible backup media so keeping multiple
backups and renewing them at regular intervals seems to be the only way
to go.

 

[Bob Sal]

That is why many libraries and archives use Kaiser CD marking pens. They come in 4 colors and write on anything from paper to glass permanently and pose no threat to a CD.

 

[PIX SHOOTER]

Do they make a fine point and who sells them?

That is why many libraries and archives use Kaiser CD marking pens.
They come in 4 colors and write on anything from paper to glass
permanently and pose no threat to a CD.

 

[Bob Sal]

"Do they make a fine point and who sells them? "

They only make a fine point and they are sold by many camera stores as well as places like Gaylord.