Rod Speed wrote:
MM wrote
Andy Dingley wrote
Adam Funk wrote

On a related note, is there a good & easy way to destroy data CDs?

CDs or CD-ROMs?

If they're CD-ROMs, you can microwave them. You need to space
them apart if you're doing a batch (plastic toastrack, or else a $500
silicon wafer processing boat). You also need to do them for just
long enough to nuke the data layer, but without cooking the plastic
or there's a fume problem. For regular industrial use I was able to
use a cheap domestic microwave from Currys, but had to mod it with a
fixed timer and a single big push button.

CDs can't be nuked to reliably kill the data without getting
them hot enough to cause a fume problem. Shredding is
easier, although you do need a hefty shredder.

I do not understand this penchant for microwaving CDs!

Its the quickest and easiest way to make them unreadable.

Toxic, extremely obnoxious fumes will be released.

Nope, not if you only give them 10 secs at most.

Do people just put up with the stench permeating their houses?

Doesnt happen if you only give them 10 secs at most.

Crazy, when there are shredders available for the
price of a decent meal for two or a tankful of fuel.

Using the microwave doesnt cost anything like that.

You actually BOUGHT a new microwave, then modded it?!!
Risible, when you could have simply bought a shredder.

Nope.

Since I bought mine, there are new models on the market that
are considerably cheaper (under 40 quid). It's a no-brainer.

Its a no brainer to use the microwave for free.


And it destroys the data utterly - you aren't left with even a few mm of
potentially readable track.


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.