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Destroying Data On CD/DVD

DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
In my company I work with CDs/DVDs, once I am done with the data on them I toss them into the trash. Rather then having to break them in order to make them unusable, is there a way to do this with a software app to make them unreadable?

THANKS
 
Not really. The cheapest and fastest way is to shred them. Fellowes makes a shredder that eats CDs. That's a lot faster than breaking them.
 
Even breaking them isn't totally secure. Somebody could if they were REALLY interested in your data use a microscope to read the data from each piece and reassemble a large part of it. Shredding it would cause more damage and "flaking" of the data layer so that it couldn't be reassembled into anything that could get more than a few bits consecutively. I've also seen cheap things that don't actually shred the disc, but puncture it and scratch it down to the data layer all over the disc.

Anything that removes the data layer and randomizes it is pretty much totally secure, very nearly as secure as just melting them. Like burning paper, if it doesn't get scrambled apart physically, even small bits can still be read with enough patience and money.

Oh yeah, and melting it probably would be a good option, and hella more fun. Buy a cheap stainless pot, some wooden sticks and a camp stove, take a stack of discs outside and have a field day. Unless of course melting gives off fumes you didn't want to breathe; burning certainly would.
 
And "finishing" the disk with a rotary sander would pretty well wipe out the data as well. 🙂
 
Most good shredders can also shred CD / DVD
in addtion to paper .... of course, you may need
to replace the cutters every now and then
 
Originally posted by: sonoma1993
Wasnt plextor planning on coming out with a device that'll destroy data on dvd/cd?
Click to expand...

Yeah they were. I think everybody laughed at it because it took 3 minutes to "erase" a disc and only ONE AT A TIME and tray loaded, when you could just snap it in half and be almost as secure, and people who really are interested in security just shred the things.

I'd bet a REALLy interested person could put the "erased" discs under a microscope, or a scanning tunnelling microscope, and be able to tell the difference between the bits of dye that were burned by a regular burner and what was blasted by the Plextor drive, which I assume is just sending out a wide, unregulated beam to be able to wreak a path of destruction on the disc and erase it in 3 minutes.
 
Another fast way is to line them all up on a cement surface and hit them all with a blowtorch. CDs are basically a polycarbonate disk, and they melt at 250 C or higher.

 
Even burning the disc would not be totally secure. A really determined person might invent faster than light travel, go far away in space and point a very powerful telescope towards Earth and the CD.

OK, I'm off to bed now.
 
Originally posted by: oynaz
Even burning the disc would not be totally secure. A really determined person might invent faster than light travel, go far away in space and point a very powerful telescope towards Earth and the CD.

OK, I'm off to bed now.
Click to expand...

Macroscope

Been a while since I read it, but I think that's pretty much what the "macroscope" does, except it detected a special particle, not light, and let them focus down to any depth, see through objects, et cetera.
 
get a good set of shears, two cuts and the disc is spliced into 4 sections, no fuss, no mess, if someone wants to use a microscope to read the data, good luck to them. this only works for one cd at a time, if you have a stack of them, get a cd shredder , be careful if you plan to use a blowtorch, have a camp fire or use the office microwave.
 
Originally posted by: DasFox
sheesh so after all this we are saying to nuke the CDs is the best way?

LOL
Click to expand...

Boy oh boy for all the technology these days this sure sounds a bit midevil, something out of Saturday Night Live.

Ahhh Honey would you please hand me the blowtorch so I can roast some of my CDs

LOL 🙂

ALOHA
 
When time travel is invented then you should just go back and destroy it before you wrote it. Thus creating a paradox and negating the universe, this would prevent anyone from existing and thus keep your data safe.
 
The microwave gets my vote - about 3 seconds and you'll get a very satisfying ZZZT! across the surface of the disk - killing any chance of recovery.

Even if you buy a shredder, it's worth microwaving one just to see it 😀
 
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