# What's the best way to destroy a CD-R? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613 "2006-05-21T05:49:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613/21 "2006-05-21T21:51:33Z")
[This thing](http://www.papershredders.com/item.cfm?pid=145) looks like it’s pretty easy to use, and as a plus it can even handle a hard drive if you need to get rid of everything. A bit pricey though. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613/22 "2006-05-21T21:54:09Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > 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. In my case I occasionally had to destroy a couple hundred, maybe once every 2 months. I just stood out at our dock with a ball peen hammer and set the CD’s one at a time on the rubber stops for trucks to back up against and whacked each one, case and all with the round end of the hammer. I opened a few and all of them were seriously damaged to the point I would have little worry of data recovery short of some kind of UberFBI crimelab grade reconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613/23 "2006-05-21T22:38:05Z")
to simply render the media inoperable to ordinary mortals, I just score it several times on the label side with the point of a six inch nail - I find this does more damage per stroke than a knife. For complete and secure destruction, grinding it to small chippings or incinerating it would seem best; rotary wire brushing the label side, unless done really thoroughly, might still leave some fragments of data intact (to absolutely determined and professional recovery experts). ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613/24 "2006-05-21T23:03:59Z")
Scratch the surface aggressively with a nail, as suggested, ensuring you get to the actual data layer underneath the outer layer of plastic. Put scratched CD inside anything plastic, even something such as a section of bin liner. Have yourself a little outdoor CD barbeque where you heat the plastic-wrapped CD until it is significantly warped and/or melted (I used to put them on a grating over some lit firelighters inside a mini BBQ made from house bricks). Set aside to cool. Nobody can get that data back. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613/25 "2006-05-21T23:11:56Z")
Take off and nuke the CD from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-cd-r/357613.md?page=1)