Drive Caddy Tray

Printing to DVDs and CDs

Last week we looked at the different technologies available when recording data on to removable media such as a writable DVD and I briefly touched on the subject of printing on to the top surface of the disc. Whilst many use a simple glass marker pen, there are of course several other options available should you want give your discs a more professional looking finish.

Disc Labels

Possibly the simplest option, the label route involves literally printing on to an A4 sheet which has two disc shaped labels pre-cut in to it. Once complete you literally peel off the label and apply it to your finished disc.

There however some downsides to using such a method; it looks fairly amateurish, applying the label to the CD is a little difficult, and if not positioned flawlessly the label can actually unbalance the disc, giving read errors when in the disc drive. However the fast this is by far the cheapest method still remains; you don't need speciality media, the labels themselves are pretty cheap and almost any household printer can print to them.

Printable Media

In order to print to the surface of the disc, you require a special disc printer and some printable discs; these most commonly have a matt white surface on the top although other colours and finishes are available. The discs don't cost much more than the conventional non printable variety and with regards to the printer, you can choose a dedicated disc printer or simply ensure that your next printer includes support for printing to disc.

The disc is usually placed in its own special tray and then automatically pulled into the printer from the trays dedicated slot (in contrast to paper which is normally fed from the top) in the way it can be printed to no differently than if it were a blank piece of paper. Dedicated printing software is used to make sure that all the components are correctly aligned and the results are rather remarkable when done correctly particularly if you keep an eye out for full face printable discs - which let you to print to the most central part of the disc instead of where the clear plastic ring in the centre usually begins.

Lightscribe

This type of disc is coated with a reactive dye that changes colour when exposed to the type of infrared laser light present in disc recorders. The technology relies on having a compatible recorder but other than that you only have to worry about ensuring that you buy Lightscribe compatible discs, which whilst readily available, cost almost twice as much as regular discs.

Once you have burnt the data you simply take the disc out, flip it over then reinsert it in to the drive before using special software use the laser to etch your image or text on to the surface of the disc. The resulting disc can look quite stunning despite being a greyscale rather than full colour image, and it'll be several years in normal room lighting before the image even starts to fade. If you are unsure whether your drive supports Lightscribe then the trial edition of DVD info (www.dvdinfopro.com) should be able to advise you.

About the Author

Chris Holgate writes a weekly article of all things tech related. He is a director and copyrighter of the online computer consumables business Refresh Cartridges who sell cheap
ink cartridges
, toner cartridges, computer hardware and other computer consumables online. An archive of his work can be found at
www.computerarticles.co.uk
.

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