Is it safe to mark blu-ray discs with a permanent marker to prevent resale?

[Beholder]

Is it safe to mark blu-ray discs with a permanent marker to prevent resale? What I am thinking is making a small note on the non-read side of every disc in my collection, that would make it less appealing target for potential theft and resale. What I'm worried is that a wrong type of marker might damage the disc.

[sgmarine]

I actually do that to some of my blu ray and DVD with a black marker. So far there seem to be no side-effect on the discs itself.

[bhampton]

I’ve bought a few used discs that had initials in sharpie.

Didn’t hurt the discs or the resale value

[orangerunner]

You can buy official "CD Safe" pens. Apparently regular Sharpies have some sort of mild acid in the ink which, over time, can seep into the data layer and cause playback problems.

I think this mostly applies to writing on silver lacquer CDs which are more vulnerable. A pressed DVD has a layer of ink, a layer of white flood ink and then a plastic layer before it hits the data.

I think you'd need a pretty volatile ink to penetrate through all of that.

If any of your discs become rare and you want to re-sell them, having your initials written on the disc WILL affect the value to any hardcore collector.

[Shane Rollins]

The only person who ever stole my movies did so out of jealousy for my attention and not for the sake of reselling them. (Although she probably did resell them.) At least in my eyes, marker is unnecessary, not a theft deterrent, and only drives down the value if you sell it later. Also, if my movies had my name on them, I’d think it looked like shit.

If someone’s going to steal your movies, marker won’t stop them. Sorry to sound like a dick but that’s just my two cents.

[Bobafett345]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

If someone’s going to steal your movies, marker won’t stop them. Sorry to sound like a dick but that’s just my two cents.

This. The only preventative measure is to make your collection more secure, by making you premises more secure. There's tips on that, but it boils down to making it more hassle than its worth for someone to break into your place. The longer it takes, the more likely they are seen; someone will call the local authorities, etc.

No one is going to take the time to open a case to see if your discs are marked until long after they stuff them in whatever they hauled them off with.