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Removing Labels From DVDR's & CD-R's
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ddp
Moderator
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30. January 2005 @ 06:53 |
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i've used wd40 with no ill effects on discs & computers so each to their own
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perealb
Newbie
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31. January 2005 @ 06:04 |
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Alternative to labels.
I've also had problems with labels and tried to use inkjet printable DVDs writing at 4X. It improved a lot, it was playable with few delays on loading the game. I started to write my backups at 1X and now everything works really well. I tried the cheapest media I got (Princo, max 4X) and the best I have (Fuji, max 16X). All worked perfectly.
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luke35
Junior Member
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27. February 2005 @ 12:14 |
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Another take on the label question. I let a buddy borrow a labeled movie, big time playback problems. he put it on a flat surface and the outermost edge was warpped.
when you apply the label you press down on the spring loaded thing in the middle, the edge of the disc floats till it makes contact with the label. By pressing down the disc is slightly warped, then the you stick the label to this warpped disc and it gets stuck warpped. Remove the label and it lays flat again. I'll never use labels again.
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Junior Member
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28. February 2005 @ 15:26 |
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Hes very true about labeling DVDR's. It is a bad practice and I don't care what anyone say's about not having trouble with labeled disc's. I labeled my DVD backups when backing up DVD software first came out. I would have problems with some of the labeled discs as far as trying to make a copy of my copy (read errors all over the place) and even playing back on the same burner drive that created the backup with the same software used to create the original backup. I removed the label (had a heck of a time) and amazingly the disc worked fine. If that's not enough to convince someone not to label their discs than I don't know what will. Believe me, DO NOT LABEL DISCS with sticky labels!!!
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bcrandco
Newbie
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16. March 2005 @ 14:49 |
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I have the same problems with labels. I wanted to add that I have two dvd drives that have read problems with paper-labelled dvds, but my plextor dvd burner had no problems reading the dvd with labels. I could dedecrypt the dvd from the plextor but not from the others. Not quite sure what that infers.
As for removing labels, I had luck with lamp oil - which wouldn't be that different from lighter fluid, WD-40, etc - they may be oil based, but suffficiently volatile to leave no residue. "Painted" the label with the fluid, let it sit 5-10 min and it came off beautifully and clean.
MK
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hbraun
Newbie
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17. March 2005 @ 06:04 |
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i would like to add another point to the problem of labeling CDs/DVDs. When I came across this problem at home with my midia, I asked the people that make CDs (lots of)at the company I work for, if they had this problem and how they solved it (because they have to label the CDs, handwritten is not acceptable).
The answer was yes, they had problems to read the data, but they said they solved satisfactorily by FIRST applying the label AND THEN burning the CD (they dont burn DVDs yet).
I have not seen any reference or comment about this "reverse" process, neither have tried myself yet, so I would like to have comments from you folks, the experts of this discussion group.
Best regards.
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Junior Member
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17. March 2005 @ 08:17 |
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Labeling first may solve some of the read problems but will not solve the peeling up effect caused by excessive heat that can be found inside a car during the hot summer months. As far as applying the label first, this may improve the read errors that occurr but if a label is applied a tiny wee bit off center this can cause unstable RPM issues and the end result is back to read errors. I would have to say DO NOT LABEL DISCS. I would like to thank bcrandco for his earlier advice. I wasn't letting the Zippo Lighter Fluid on long enough. I just did a label removal with leaving the fluid on for 5 minutes or so and the label came off very easy but still had a light glue film left over but Alcohol took care of this.
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vike
Junior Member
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18. March 2005 @ 09:02 |
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This is going to sound weird, but when we need to remove tags and labels at work and don't want to damage the surface of the item we use a handheld Vicks steam vaporizer (available at most pharmacies) to soften up the label before we remove it. Works like a champ, and leaves very little residue behind. Also, I NEVER use labels on my backups. You can buy TY printables for about $.70 each and they look and perform better than anything with a label on it. With a good scanner you just scan the original DVD and then print the jpg directly onto the backup.
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kbuegel
Junior Member
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19. March 2005 @ 17:25 |
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In response to the guy who said that labels being a teeny bit off can cause problems- That's completely FALSE! Please test your assumptions before you spout them out.
I've posted previously that nearly 100% of my DVD's with paper labels became unreadable after a few months (it takes a while for some reason). In attempting to fix the problem, I found that partially removing the label fixes most of the DVD's. So, for instance, you can tear off a chunk of the label, and usually that HELPS it to read more accurately. I've had unplayble DVD's become completely revived by removing half the label vertically (leaving the left half on and the right half removed). This would be the absolute worst-case scenario for an out-of-balance DVD and yet they play just fine. So, to those who claim that DVD balance is to blame, that is completely FALSE! Please, try it yourself. A DVD with half a label plays just fine, and may even play better than a DVD with a full label!
FYI, I've been stripping my paper labels off just by soaking the DVD in warm water for a few minutes. Then I use a wooden or plastic spatula to scrape off the label. It usually pulls most of the gummy stuff with it, and the wooden spatula won't scratch the DVD itself. For the last bits of glue goo, I picked up some Goo-Be-Gone at the grocery store. Its orange citris based cleaner that seems to disolve the goo pretty well. I find that it can leave a residue behind, so you have to rinse it very thoroughly. I spend about 5 minutes at the sink for each DVD trying to get them clean.
For a replacement label, I've been using clear plastic labels which I then overprint with white non-liquid ink using an ALPS printer. Then print a full color image over the white background on the clear plastic labels. These plastic labels do not use the same adhesive and don't hold heat the way the paper ones do. After about 6 months of using plastic labels, they seem to be working fine.
As a finishing touch, lately I've been spraying a clear acrylic finish on the DVD's. This does a great job of sealing the printed surface of the DVD, and gives a semi-gloss surface which looks very professional. I picked up some clear acrylic finish spray at Lowe's. When applying it, I use a paper towel and a jewel case bottom. put the paper towel over the jewel case and stick the dvd onto the center holder of the jewel case. NEVER re-use a paper towel, always use a fresh one. The paper towel will prevent overspray from getting to the readable side of the DVD, and its absorbant enough that it soaks up any spray that builds up near the center hole. I tried using a brush once to paint the DVD with finish, but it was very time-consuming and you still got lots of finish around the center hole. So may as well just spray. So far I've made about 150 DVD's using plastic labels printed with an ALPS printer and sprayed with acryiic finish, and they all work and look great. I've got about another 150 to go to finally replace all my paper-labeled DVD's.
BTW, I also have an epson R320 printer and printable DVD's, and I use that for most of the new stuff I'm burning. Printable DVD's are sooo nice. Only trouble is sometimes the printing gets screwed up and you have to toss the DVD, but they are cheap enough now that its no biggie. I'm using the Ridata G5's with printable hub area, as well as TDK's from Costco that I picked up for $25 for 50 DVD's, but these have the center hub area unprintable. I switch back and forth depending on whether I want to print down to the hub or not (depends on the image I'm printing).
If anyone has any questions on any of my labeling techniques, feel free to ask. I spent about a year researching and testing various methods and I'm happy to share my results.
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rneffle
Newbie
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9. April 2005 @ 06:44 |
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My DVD collection is now at 460, and almost all have disk labels on them. These are a little over a year old now, and I have started to experience playback problems on some that have the labels.
I will not go into the discussion here about being pro or con labels, just that I recently bought a thermal printer to use instead of any labels. I did not want to make a lifelong career out of removing all the DVD labels, so I set out to find the best way to get them off, and then use the thermal printer to re-identify.
I have tried using a heat gun to warm the label adheasive first, but this was cumbersome and had little effect on the older labels. I tried Goo Gone and this worked very well, but it seemed to take several application of the Goo Gone to get rid of all the label and adheasive. I also tried soaking the disk in soapy water overnight and this allowed the label to come off, but left all the adheasive.
Yesterday I think I finally found a system that works, quickly, cheaply, and completely. I took a small corningware dish and put in a 50/50 mixture of regular household ammonia and water. I put in the disk to soak for only about 10 minutes, and using an old plastic credit card was able to just push off the old label along with the adheasive. The label came off remarkably easy with absolutely no adheasive left on the disk. I then rinsed the disk completely under running water and dried it with a lint free cloth. The finished disk looks really great, sparkling clean with no leftover adheasive residue anywhere.
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kbuegel
Junior Member
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9. April 2005 @ 08:31 |
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Thats a great tip on removing the labels. I appreciate that because it does take forever to remove the goo on those labels. How did you attain some "household ammonia" ? Did you use windex, or some sort of cleaner you can purchase?
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rneffle
Newbie
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9. April 2005 @ 09:11 |
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The "household ammonia" is just the normal stuff you can buy at any grocery store that is normally used for cleaning kitchens and bathrooms. What I bought at WalMart was called Parsons' Lemon Fresh, and I think cost about $1.50 for 56 Fl. Oz.
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beefer1
Newbie
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9. April 2005 @ 15:09 |
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I have a theory on why the paper labels seem to take months before they become problematic. The glue they use is hygroscopic, i.e. it absorbs water from the air. I noticed the problems with the labels during the winter when the air is much dryer. So the water that the glue absorbed when I put them on must be evaporating out of the glue causing the glue and the paper to shrink. This would cause the disks to warp a bit. They don't need to warp much for them to become unplayable. Running error tests on these disks always showed much higher error rates towards the outer edge, which is where the warping would be at a maximum. The problems may alleviate somewhat when the ambient humidity increases, but the label may already be permenantly distorted.
Thanks Pulsar, right you are, bit of a brain fart...
Anyways, that my theory, I may be blowing smoke so don't crucify me if you don't agree. I'm only using printable disks now, pas de probleme.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14. April 2005 @ 05:43
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AfterDawn Addict
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9. April 2005 @ 15:11 |
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I think the term is "hygroscopic". A bit like brake fluid! Brake fluid would get rid of labels. And knacker your discs too.
Gif by Phantom69
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Member
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9. April 2005 @ 16:37 |
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I had some quite large labels on some cd's for many years and recentely decided to rid the disks of them. My choice of chemical was "meths" (methylated spirits.) After picking off much of the label, I soaked the remains of the sticker with the meths, let it soak for a few seconds then rubbed it off the discs surface.
Being careful is the way with this stuff and I needed to add more meths as I went along as it evaporated really quick. The disc was ok though :)
I never use lables anymore and would advise a test with a coaster first if your going to try meths on a dvd.
Dont slip or youll break it!
Core 2 Quad Q6600 GO, 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8000@1066Mhz, XFX XXX 8800GT, 3x SATAII Seagate HDDs (2TB) Pioneer DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-RW.
Windows Vista x64 SP1. |
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rneffle
Newbie
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9. April 2005 @ 21:35 |
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A little update on my earlier post regarding label removal using an ammonia solution. After doing label removal for an entire evening, it became apparent this process had some drawbacks. The ammonia solution did work, but it also desolved any color in the label as well as the adheasive in the removal process. After doing a few labels the solution became more and more contaminated with ink and adheasive residue which would then get on the completed disk. Also, I found that some labels took additional soak time to remove, probably due to the different adheasives used with different brands of labels.
I decided to give Mineral Spirits a try next, and found it was much faster, only four minutes soak time was required and the solution did not contaminate and stayed crystal clear. Label removal required that you start a small piece near the edge with your fingernail, but then after getting it started, the label just peeled right off in one piece, and all adheasive along with it. This left a VERY clean disk surface after rinsing off with water. I suppose I should have processed more disks before declaring the ammonia solution a success, but this evening I have already done over twenty disks using the Mineral Spirits with no problems at all.
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