sorry for the stupid question but can someone tell me if datasafe and princo cdr are the same.

No, datasafe did use princo discs though a few months back, now they are using ritek or cmc magnetics. Datasafe dont actually make discs they just buy them off manufacterers. Princo discs are illegal in EEC now cos they owe royalties to phillips (unless its been sorted by now)

MrMP is right.

There are only about 9 factories who make CDRs. But the companies such as Datasafe, just buy them off them and have their own label on top. Underneath the label at the moment - Datasafe, White-label, All-4-Mats, Techno, Bigpockets White Top are all made by Ritek. Ritek aslo have their own labelled white top disc as well.

If you buy Datasafe make sure they are made by Princo they are far superior. Princo brand their own discs also, Lite-On burners have problems reading Datasafe branded discs made by Ritek (Silver Premium), Verbatim branded discs made by CMC (Datalife)have same problem.
You can still get original datasafe from bigpockets etc