Render DVDs Unusable?

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It lives under a couple layers of protection also. I don't think scribblign on it does a thing.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K
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Dunno about the discs but the 'drill a hole" is the recommended method for destroying hard drives.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

Yes, the recording is written beneath the surface. Damaging the surface (with a sharpie or sandpaper) does not destroy the data; it just makes it hard/impossible to read it. However, in theory, at least, the surface could be reground and polished such that data recovery would be possible.

So, I scratch them up with a utility knife -- deeply enough to reach the recording surface, and then cut 'em up with snips.

For a larger quantity, I'd probably melt them down using a camping stove, BBQ or blow torch. I would do this outdoors to avoid the risk of fumes etc.

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

Bend them with your hand until they splinter into a thousand pieces, or put them in a microwave for about 4 seconds each. Or do both.

Reply to
Brandon McCombs

The NIST link above (gleaned) "Optical mass storage media, including compact disks (CD, CD-RW, CD-R, CD-ROM), optical disks (DVD), and magneto-optic (MO) disks must be destroyed by pulverizing,"

Some government agencies require "old/dead hard drives" be sent to "central office" for degaussing, before destruction.

Me! I think of Thermite...

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Reply to
Oren

Alcohol cleans sharpie off very easily. My shredder turns CDs into tiny bright confetti. I'd bet against NSA getting data off it. -- Doug

Reply to
Douglas Johnson

Heck my shredder has slot just for disk media - even cross-cuts :-))

Reply to
Oren

I'd bet *on* the NSA or other similarly equipped groups being able to get data off of your CD/DVD confetti. Granted the data at the cut points is unlikely to be recoverable, but given the data density of the media, each piece of confetti would probably yield a sizable amount of data in their hands. If you need true security, you need to totally destroy the data layer, probably via chemical treatment of the confetti bits, or incineration of the remains.

Reply to
Pete C.

Agree. First they need the "confetti".

Reply to
Oren

Sandblasting or grinding of the data side works well. Once the layer with the pits is dust, ain't nothing gonna put it back together.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

My crosscut shredder's output gets mixed into 2 bags, and some of it gets thrown in with the kitchen garbage each week. You'd have to not only be willing to paw through our raw chicken guts, but do so for several weeks in a row to get most of a given document or disc. If you're that interested, have at it, I say...

Josh

Reply to
Josh

As the OP I'd like to thank all you guys for the suggestions, serious and otherwise. I took a pair of snips from my garage and cut all the DVDs in half. One half of each of them was then deposited into a smelly and moist dumpster behind a seafood restaurant, and the other half were placed in the trash bin at a Walmart about 20 miles away. Task completed. Thanks again.

Reply to
CWLee

They burn too have been told! I think there was an old CD/DVD in a bag of paper/cardboard scrap used recently to light the wood stove.

Reply to
terry

Now that you have revealed where they are, you need to go retrieve them and put them elsewhere. Loose lips...

Reply to
salty

LOL........did you make sure you weren't being followed?

Reply to
norminn

Just about any physical disruption (i.e., just a scratch) will render the CD unintelligible to even the most determined data thief.

As for the NSA and such deciphering that which is on an even more ambitious destruction path, why bother? The government can simply demand that you tell them what was on the media you went to extraordinary lengths to destroy.

Oh yes they can... oh yes you will.

Reply to
HeyBub

Should have made the dumps on two different days. Now the NSA is busy rebuilding your data. I'm telling yah, those NSA guys are really good.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Yes, I believe that's pretty much what they do with hard drive platters that contain classified data - Grind the mag layer off then shred the substrate.

Reply to
Pete C.

snipped-for-privacy@dog.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

...sink ships :-)

- Flip Wilson

Reply to
Red Green

Cut them in half with tin snips or use a scribe and put a deep scratch across the tracks.

Reply to
Van Chocstraw

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