destroying dvd/cd's

calleyw

What is the best way of destroying dvd/cd's apart from snapping them in half and taking someones eye out with the flying bits of debris.

In the past I have just taken a screwdriver and scratched all over them as hard as I can.

I am not sure if that is enough now as I am having a paranoid thoughts about my private data being found. I know that you can get cd's fixed but not sure how deep the scratches have to be to render they unreadable and unfixable.

Any ideas. And no I am not putting them in microwave.


Yours


Calley

Conor_3

You need to scratch them on the label side because that's where you'll penetrate through the surface that's written on.

amcluesent

Pop them through the shredder you use for all your bank statements etc. (you DO have shredder?)

fwor

The most critical part of a CD or DVD is the TOC, which is within the part of the silvered area closest to the centre.

You can buy hole punches which you place the CD/DVD in, and it will punch a hole through the TOC area, making it unreadable.

However, I suspect a forensic scientist could find ways to get at data on the CD using specialist hardware - except for that in the punched-out hole, of course.

globalds

I saw one placed in a microwave on brainiac ..That seemed to destroy the CD pretty well.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Wegnjmd-8

Maybe worth standing back a bit once you press the button

Andy_L

Put them in a plastic bag, then snap them in half & rip the foil layer in half

calleyw

amcluesent wrote: »

Pop them through the shredder you use for all your bank statements etc. (you DO have shredder?)

I do have shredder but it only does paper and not cd's or credit cards.

And it only does strips as well. Mind you I do put it in my compost bin after my bunny has had a wee and poo on it so people are welcome to pick it out of there :rotfl:


Yours


Calley

Garz

calleyw wrote: »

Mind you I do put it in my compost bin after my bunny has had a wee and poo on it so people are welcome to pick it out of there :rotfl:

Calley

Haha, interesting techinques in here.

Bob63

Putting them through the shredder will destroy the data, but putting them in the microwave is *much* more fun. The results are truly astounding.

Mike

BritBrat

I would not shread them OR PUT THEM IN A MICROWAVE.

Most people would not have a heavy duty shreader and would break it and as for the micro wave it sounds really dangerous.

I have a large pair of cheap scissors and just cut through from outside to centre or in half.

superscaper

BritBrat wrote: »

I would not shread them OR PUT THEM IN A MICROWAVE.

Most people would not have a heavy duty shreader and would break it and as for the micro wave it sounds really dangerous.

I have a large pair of cheap scissors and just cut through from outside to centre or in half.

Obviously only put CDs in shredders that can take them but I think they're probably more common than you think. You can get £20 shredders that are capable of shredding CDs as well. You can even get hand operated shredders capable of destroying CDs.

I agree about the microwave, it may be effective but it's also pretty dumb.

All depends on how paranoid you are. I don't think it'd really be worth anyone's time to forensically examine a damaged disc just to extract personal info. I think the CD shredder is probably the best idea (although obviously not free) in terms of being most effective and least dangerous or deeply scratching them. I've managed to cut myself by cutting up/breaking CDs.