Re: [ARSCLIST] destruction of CDs

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

Trey Bunn wrote:
> This may be an odd question considering that it's pretty much the
> opposite of what most of us normally do, but I was wondering if anyone
> had any tips on how to destroy a CD-R.

> Any thoughts?  And no, before anyone thinks I have a CD full of super
> secret scary government files or something, don't worry.

Scribe radially through the acrylic lacquer on top of the disc. One or 
two slashes that disturb the metallic layer will be quite enough. 
Forensic experts might be able to piece the fragments of sectors 
together again, but ordinary tools will not suffice. The directory 
(innermost written area) will not make sense to any standard player so 
even the filenames will be lost.

Breaking the disc is both difficult and dangerous. Microwaving is 
spectacular but slow and potentially harmful both in its effect and to 
the maser. I'm told that there are heavy-duty paper shredders which can 
handle CDs, but an Xacto knife used as above suffices for me.

Mike
--
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/