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Erasing CDs By Using 150,000 Volts of Electricity

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the take-that-csi dept.

ryzvonusef writes "One enterprising individual has created the most secure way to wipe out Compact Discs, by using a step-up transformer and creating a 150,000 Volt pd, whilst a CD rotates in the middle. The sparks arc through the metal in the CD and evaporates it, ripping it all off as the CD rotates. The CD is rendered transparent and unreadable. This may be the most secure method to remove data on conventional recordable CDs used in offices."

6 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. For those with less sense and less money by Phibz · · Score: 1, Insightful

    try nuking it in the microwave for 2 - 3 seconds.

    1. Re:For those with less sense and less money by v1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      actually the foil is VERY quickly shattered, it's quite spectacular and is a good deal safer on the magnetron than the other article today where someone was suggesting microwaving a hard drive

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  2. Microwave by yogidog98 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Science geeks have been doing this for years with microwave ovens; though, it was more for the cool light show than for data security.

  3. That... by AlienIntelligence · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That... was one of the coolest electricity displays I've seen in a long time.

    Ta heck with what it does, lol

    -AI

    --
    For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion
  4. wha? by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most secure? My ass...
    The microwave
    A Fire
    Paper shredder
    Acetone
    This is just an expensive toy

  5. Re:Microwave by cdrguru · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Recordable discs use gold or silver with negligable oxidation of the reflector. You might get some level of degradation of the dye and call that "oxidation" but we're talking about the reflector, right?

    Manufactured discs use aluminum which does oxidize somewhat. In extreme environments with lots and lots of humidity you can get the aluminum to oxidize but only a very few people have ever actually seen it. Mostly this is a myth started by the folks proclaming "DVD rot" which has only occurred in some really odd circumstances.

    The problem with shredded discs being put back together is that it will take the drive about 1/4th of a turn to regain tracking after a break. You are NOT going to be able to align the spiral across a break - wraps of the spiral on a DVD are around 1000 nanometers apart. They are a whopping 1400 nanometers apart on a CD so that might be as much as 40% easier.

    Since visible light has a wavelength around 500 nanometers, we are talking about features that cannot be resolved by magnification. You might, and I say just barely might, be able to do this with an electron microscope and some sort of micro-manipulator. Maybe.

    Having a piece of a sector doesn't do you any good really. The data isn't encoded as bytes on the disc and there is physical scrambling of the bytes to spread them out. For example, to read one sector on a CD you have to read three. On a DVD it is worse - you have to read 16 of them.