Just a little bit of nail polish remover on a tissue will take the ink off a disc so you can write on it again. It doesn't hurt the disc either. But, Don't forget to rinse the disc off under running water before you write on it again just to be on the safe side. Just a tip I thought you might want to know.

I wouldn't do this myself as nail varnish remover is basically acetone, a vigorous solvent.
You were lucky to get away without damage to the topcoat varnish used on the discs.

acetone free nail polish remover is widely available.

not sure if it's the acetone that removes the ink or some other ingredient in the remover, but there are actually few removers these days that contain acetone (or at least any substantial amount of it)

around here you can only get 100% acetone at beauty supply shops in like gallon jugs.

For any nail varnish remover to work it is a varnish solvent. The coating on the top of disc's is similar to nail varnish so........

i would definitely not recommend this on a CD as the writable layer is JUST below the label, but on a DVD it's probably safe as there's a layer between. this is why scratches on the label side of dvds aren't a big of a deal as scratches on cds.

It doesn't remove ink written on the DVD. I think if you're cheap enough to apply nail remover to the DVD then go for it. I would definately not recomend it. Buy a new DVD or use RWs as a test.

I'm no chemist, that's for certain, but I believe most nail polish removers, if not acetone, are some variety of petroleum distillates; as weedougie pointed out...hence the term...solvent. I'm not sure about this though...being a 57 y.o. male...I confess that I've been lax on my nails...

Reasons makes an excellent point re: the actual physical structure of a dvd, but yikes!...I'd be damn careful.

this is correct. i just wasn't sure if there was something unique about acetone in particular that weedougie didn't want near his dvds or if he was averse to all items that can take the finish off of a coffee table

Hmmm. I don't think acetone is a petroleum distillate. I think you can buy it in quart cans at Walmart. Probably at hardware and paint stores also.

Alcohol will remove sharpie ink from some shiny smooth plastics very quickly. When I tried it on one of my DVD's it was much slower. Maybe because the disc had a matte surface.

i don't think it's an issue of being cheap or not. I've made some mistakes where I've written the wrong movie title onto a dvd that i backed up (had two burn processes in the ImgBurn Queue and placed the wrong disc in the wrong drive and ended up having spiderman on a disc that says underworld and underworld on a disc that says spiderman...it happens.

and it's a pain in the ass to reburn them (and i don't like the way it looks crossed out!)

Hi steve b,

Not trying to start a war here, but I don't believe anyone said acetone is a petroleum distillate. It is a potent solvent however, and will rapidly breakdown cyanoacrylate (Superglue, aka Dermabond, used in superficial laceration repair)...that I do know. Will probably also strip furniture as reasons said...

Anyway, I didn't know about alcohol removing sharpie ink off a dvd...thanks for the tip. Actually, I never tried...I don't write on rw media and the few times I've screwed up...I crossed out...

@Reasons
Yes reasons, I know your sense of aesthetic balance has been horribly and cruelly injured...

You might try Brasso. I use it all the time to repair scratched used discs that I purchase from rental places so if it don't ruin the side that is read, it will not ruin the label side. Also great product to clean many plastics. They now list plastic on the label because since became available people have been using it on plastic.

Mack

Shouldn't this thread be moved to the cdf Chemistry Threads?

I just use 91% alcohol and never had a problem. Like if I missspell the title or write the wrong aspect ratio ... the 70% alcohol doesn't clean as well (deep?).

But I don't use Sharpies ... too much petrol. I get the real DVD markers from Staedtler, the "Permanent" Lumocolor markers. Most art supply stores can order them if they don't stock them. They come in different colors and tip widths.
http://www.staedtler.com/home_gb.Sta...?ActiveID=2131

Whisperer

i find that if i pour margaritas on my dvds they disappear altogether...or is that if i pour margaritas down my throat? hmm...

Yo-

I have been writing on CD-R and DVD media for the past10-12 years with Sharpies - and have never had a coaster because of the Sharpie (some of the dumb $hit I did - but not the Sharpies)-eh!

There is a debate among the "experts" about whether DVDs should be written on at all, even with magic marker. There are those who declare DO NOT LABEL YOUR DVDs! Supposedly, the ink or adhesive will leech into the DVD and corrupt the data within, say, three years.

Others claim that it's no problem, go right ahead.

I just mention this for informational purposes.

I have used sharpie markers since the debut of dvd x copy platium. I still have DVD's and CD's that I burned and it's been 5+ years no issues yet. The scary thing is some of that DVD media is the old memorex 4X write discs,,,,,,,,,,,

for the reasons i stated above, i'd worry MUCH more about CDs succumbing to this than DVDs, but overall, it doesn't seem like a real-life concern.

it's probably something that is statistically significant in testing, but translated to practical usage doesn't degrade the disc very much faster than a non-labeled disc.

I also think that it is partially a marketing ploy...have you seen how expensive those specialized "cd/dvd markers" are?!

i'm not saying they're JUST out to make money as I do believe the POSSIBILITY exists for the ink to degrade the disc, but as I said before, I don't think it's as big a deal as they'd like you to believe, and I'd worry about CDs before I'd start worrying about DVDs.

Agreed there, me too.

The one thing I wouldn't do is apply those sticky labels to any of my media, be it CDR or DVDR - lost too many CDRs back in the day by doing that to ever chance it again.

I've never tried erasing ink on any disks but, I wounder if those Mr. Clean erasers would work. I've used them on a lot of stuff at home with my kids. It erases everything and hasn't distorted or wrecked anything.