As a result of the events mentioned in this thread, and because I’ve heard repeatedly that CD-RWs are less dependable, I’m going to be buying a batch of CD-Rs for my audio and data backup needs. Now, one of the main reasons I went with RW’s is because I have no idea how to destroy writable CDs, and I want my data to just GO AWAY when the backup becomes obsolete. Recycling my writable CDs seemed to be the best way to at least delay the inevitable.
So if I’m gonna go with CD-R’s, what’re my options for destroying it? While I don’t necessary NEED “not even the NSA could get my data” level, it would sure be comforting, especially if it were easy.
There are several ways to render a CD, CD-R or CD-RW permanently unreadable. Microwaving for a few seconds will do it. Sandpapering the label side with rough grit sandpaper until you can see light through it is another way. Many personal and home-office shredders can also handle credit cards and CDs. I’m sure there’s other, even more dramatic, ways but any one of these should suffice.
Out here in Afghanistan, pretty much everything gets either shredded or burned (names, addresses, project status, etc.). I keep a burn box of scrap paper and address labels I take out to one of my construction sites and torch, and have done the same with a CD or two.
If you’ve got the option and a touch of pyromania, why not burn it? Got a fireplace or campfire? There ya go.
Tripler
Fire: Cheap, quick, easy, and secure destruction.
I would think simply breaking it would make it very difficult to read for anyone who doesn’t have some really special equipment. I’d vote for microwaving and then breaking them.
I can testify that launching them, either from a clay pigeon launcher, or thrown frisbee-style, and then blasting them with a 12ga shotgun (I recommend No. 7 1/2 shot) will permamently render your old CD-Rs unreadable.
Microwave them! I think that at just 10 seconds (or less) per CD, this is probably going to be the fastest way. Unless you have a lot, at which point you could probably burn them in less time.
That’s a neat unit. Looks like instead of actually chopping up the physical disk it makes dimples or scratches that would prevent the data from being read.
As pointed out by QED destroying the label side will do it. If I want to really destroy one I just pass the label side over the wire brush end of my grinder. Microwaving is a good way to destroy the cd, and the microwave. (Once you get the whole arc thing working it is a pretty spectacular lightshow). And don’t listen to Martini, any damn fool knows the appropriate choice is #8 shot from a 20Ga, prefferably the lower barrel on an over/under. 12 Ga is way overkill. (Sorry Martini, I couldn’t resist)
What’s so complicated about just breaking it in two with your hands? No smell, no shards, no equipment, no cleanup. One quick SNAP and you’re on to the next one.
If you’ve got wimpy hands, use 2 pliers or set 1 edge on a 2x4 on the floor so the CD forms a little ramp & then step on the middle of the ramp.
If the real goal is to avoid mistakes about which backup is current vice absolutely preventing readout of any data, simply write a big X on the data side with a permanent marker. That’ll prevent reading by anyone who doesn’t have some fancy data recovery software.
That’s what I always do. Sometimes I put it in a used envelope first, just to make sure I won’t hurt myself on the broken edge. You can also stand the disk slantwise in the angle between the floor and the wall and crack it with your shod foot. No electricity required.
Guns and microwaves and sanders and shredders and torches sound like technology overkill, in the case of the average person who just wants to ensure that their old disk can’t be casually picked up and read, rather than having to guard against sophisticated hi-tech forms of data recovery.
And physically breaking them takes less than 10 seconds per disk, too.
Actually, if you want to make the data totally unretrivable, breaking the disks is a poor excuse for getting the job done. While you or I may not have the ability to read the data off the pieces, it can be done. Detroying the media itself is the only way to make sure it goes into the bit-bucket. The sand-paper thing or wire brush will do it.
We recently got a new shredder in the office which will chomp through CDs with ease. It was so cool that we fed it a whole pack of blank CDs, just to watch it eat. It’s like feeding animals at the zoo.
Who says your tax dollars are being wasted?
Admittedly the potential shards are plastic, but I found out the hard way last week that yes, you certainly can get shards.
I had two CD-Rs at work that I wanted to destroy (company-confidential information, but certainly nothing warranting NSA-level precautions). They were both from the same package (they were two copies of the same information, written one after the other).
I bent the first one in half, and it just bent - I had to flex it back and forth before the bend was weak enough that I could tear it in half (same technique as I use for old credit cards).
I started to do the same thing to the second - I bent it and it SHATTERED. I’m sure the plastic bits weren’t any significant risk to most people, but since I use a wheelchair with inflatable tires, I was a little concerned about all the itsy-bitsy pieces of hard plastic in the carpet of my work area! I got rid of all I could find, and so far haven’t had any flats.
So, I’d suggest putting it inside something like an envelope before breaking it, just in case.
I’m involved in a little project that requires me to render inoperable tens to thousands of CDs per week. All that’s needed is to make them unusable to the average PC. If that’s all that you want to do, don’t microwave, burn, shoot or shatter the things, it makes an ungodly mess/stink/litters floor with sharp bits of polycarbonate plastic.
Just take an Xacto knife and make a couple of quick scratches on the label side of the CD. Underneath that label is the actual data layer, when you scratch it you can flip the CD over and see all the way through (meaning that you’ve physically destroyed part of the layer). A few swipes and you’ve made a mess of whatever was on there. I’ve tried other things for mass destruction (such as a rack that holds 500 CDs which I run my saw along, notching and shattering the disks) but for quick-and-dirty (but not messy!) the Xacto wins.
No it’s not NSA-level protection but do you really need that? If you do need that kind of security then get a CD shredder- not a “CD dimpler”, data can be recovered from those, you want to actually physically destroy the CD and grind it into thousands of tiny little bits.
I’d recommend against snapping in half, just 'cause of the potential to hurt yourself. Some of those things will bend almost in half, which makes it difficult to do, and silly to explain if you end up needing stitches.
For small batches, I’d recommend the microwave. Quick, easy, no mess (unless you put it on for a minute or something), and it has yet to get old for me.
Oh yeah, in my experience, frisbee’d CDs tend to turn 90° sideways in the air and fall to the ground; tossing them with a vertical orientation instead gives me the best distance.
At my office we use a Datastroyer like the one in the link below. It’s certified for destruction of optical media up to and including Top Secret level, I believe. It’s essentially a grindstone and vacuum, which grinds the bottom layer of plastic and turns the foil layer in the disc into a finely ground dust, which is collected in the vacuum-cleaner type bag.
It’s probably a little more secure than most folks need, though.
I bought a shredder from Staples that cuts the CDs into tiny fragments. It was only forty dollars, which is cheaper than the one GiantRat suggested, and it can also shred credit cards. The only things I don’t like about it are the small bin (only one gallon) and that it can only shred folded sheets of paper. So I use another one that can shred unfolded sheets of letter paper for paper only and save this one for destroying CDs and credit cards.
