CD Recycling

[raydeon]

I have some CD's which were used to store Data. I want to discard them. I do not want anybody to be able to retrieve the info that is stored on them. They are CD-R, thus cannot be erased. How do I prevent that? Any suggestions?

 

[Edifice]

Scribble the recording side with marker or just break 'em with hammer.

 

[juanbrujo]

Burn the CDs...that is burning by microwave oven. Have fun with them by putting them inside the microwave and watch the fireworks. You end up with a CD that has an almost crystalline appearance to it. Then, you can make a Christmas tree ornament by gluing 2 of them back to back and drilling a hole for the hook. After Christmas, break them in a million little pieces or you can just use them as coasters.

 

[Papi Chulo]

I usually draw some pretty pictures with a sharpie... than I take a sharp blade to them, making some deep scratches... then I take a hammer to them and just to be sure, I throw them into the fire.

 

[The Bandit]

Take them outside, place them on the sidewalk, and scratch them on the label side(top).

 

[joebear]

put them in a wood chipper.

 

[hunter001]

Staples was advertizing a shedder that works with CDs/DVDs a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Swerve69]

Shred them or burn them

 

[hunter001]

Run a magnet all around them... that will scramble the data bits!

(Wear your tinfoil hat though when you do this...otherwise?)

Magnets on a laser disk? I don't think so unless you are using the to scratch the surface.

 

[Anynym]

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-20

A large number of good, deep scratches should do the trick, perhaps from the sidewalk or asphalt nearby. Focus on scratching the label side more than the "shiny" side (but I'd scratch both sides to be more certain). In all likelihood, you're looking to render your CD difficult to recover; it's unlikely that anyone would expend hours of effort trying to reconstruct your data.

The "recorded" side has a reasonably thick layer of plastic protecting the "written" layer; this layer is very thin from the label side (and some adhesives can leach through and destroy the written layer, so use of adhesive labels on CDs is not recommended).

And just one or two scratches might still leave the disc readable, as there are error-correcting codes used in writing the disc, which could potentially recover from even a severe scratch, as described here:
http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-12

As for microwaving them, you might want to read this:
http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-8

 

[xarir]

Wow - now this looks cool!

http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/cdzap.html

 

[Anynym]

...microwaving for 3 or 4 seconds will do the trick!

... especially if you want to risk damage to your microwave oven ... (See above links for details). (Seriously, this has been covered by a few folks above .....)