Secure Destruction Of CD's

D

Dio

Veteran
I did an office clearout 2-3 months ago and chucked out a lot of CD's. But a lot I couldn't just bin, because it's NDA'ed or other secret material.

What would people suggest as a secure way of destroying these? I've considered the following:

1. Burn 'em. Not sure if this is particularly environmentally friendly (might even be illegal?) but would certainly suffice in the destruction stakes.

2. Hammer, then bin. Could probably be reasonably quick with a big enough sledgehammer, but I don't have one. My 2-kilo lump hammer takes a while to inflict the right kind of devastation. Shrapnel injuries are a worry.

3. Microwave. I know this inflicts efficient death on CDR's (and a very impressive shower of sparks. Not so sure about prerecorded CD's, and I certainly don't want to use my microwave.

Suggestions as to viability of the above, and any creative additional ideas are welcome.
 
Dio said:
I did an office clearout 2-3 months ago and chucked out a lot of CD's. But a lot I couldn't just bin, because it's NDA'ed or other secret material.

What would people suggest as a secure way of destroying these? I've considered the following:

Suggestions as to viability of the above, and any creative additional ideas are welcome.
Click to expand...

Shred them. If you don't have an industrial size document shredder, a wood chipper will do nicely.
 
Good idea. My shredder says it will accept credit cards, CD's are a damn sight tougher but I will give it a try. I don't have access to a chipper :)
 
Must...kill...reflective...layer....ARGH!

Anyway, it depends if it's pressed or recorded.

The best way is to zap it in your microwave! :D

1. Place CD in microwave
2. Set it to like 3-5 seconds
3. Watch the show

It's very effective :)
 
jeez. just bend them till they explode. Do it with it in the can though cuz otherwise the shredded top layer goes everywhere :)

pressed CDs don't explode and fall apart as well though. Those you probably should burn.
 
swaaye said:
jeez. just bend them till they explode. Do it with it in the can though cuz otherwise the shredded top layer goes everywhere :)

pressed CDs don't explode and fall apart as well though. Those you probably should burn.
Click to expand...

Yea, some simply won't break that easily. It's not so safe either :)
 
Yes, I have once come close to severe injury snapping a CD in two. A hammer works much better. Stand them vertically and whack hard. Total disintegration ensues, but the shrapnel is dangerous and a right pain to clean up.

The microwave method works on pressed CD's then?
 
just don't ever try to break them into quarters... I did that once, got a chest full of plastic shards (and of COURSE I had to try it after a shower before I had my shirt on... man, I think I have a scar from one of those plastic bastards).
 
Dio said:
The microwave method works on pressed CD's then?
Click to expand...

It's just harder to break the reflective layer on pressed CDs. Microwave fries anything you put in :LOL:

If you decide to m-wave 'em watch out for the smell :p
 
Depends on how securely you want to kill them. I make a cut through them with scissors. That should be enough to prevent casual attempts to view them.
 
i have microwaved 30 cd's at once. It was back in college, we collected a huge stack of the AOL cd's they were giving out the the school paper. 30 CD's frying at once makes a nice display, but it stinks something awful. Didnt hurt the microwave, and it took longer than a single CD does which is why the smell was so bad - some of the CDs were starting to melt. But it fried em all!
 
fire is the best way.

acid is good. try digesting it. ;)

i recommed taking sandpaper and going to work on the top part (the part that you write on on a cdr). this should get rid of all data nicely. not sure about how much harder it is on pressed cds though.
 
Give them to me. I'll lend them to one of my numerous, idiot friends who will later return them at their leisure, scratched to buggery. o_O

MuFu.
 
Well, this has now been done. The recipe is as follows.

Needed: 2 house bricks, or similar, one glove, one 2kg lump hammer, one large masonry chisel, one bucket.

Place bricks in bucket about 3cm apart. Place CD on top of pair of bricks. Place chisel on top of CD (ensure that glove is worn upon chisel-holding hand). Hit very hard with lump hammer. Repeat until all done; empty bucket, and clear up remaining shrapnel.
 
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