The World's Largest Online Source For High End Custom Jewelry

How To Destroy A CD

Safe Ways To Destroy A CD

Why Should You Destroy A CD Before Discarding It?

Most of us use computers to help us in our daily work, this is true or workers, business owners, students and even housewives. There is one thing that computers do very efficiently and that is to hold large amounts of information. A CD drive with writing capability is today quite cheap and almost every notebook or desktop comes with one such drive. The price of the blank CD has also dropped to very low levels and this is one of the factors that has made CD media very popular.

We often use CD disks to keep a back up of the data that we have on our notebook or desktop computers. It then becomes possible to restore data from the CD (to the computer) should the files (information) on your computer get erased or corrupt for some reason. A CD disk is also not very heavy or bulky and is convenient for moving data from one computer to another. You could for example, take a half finished report from your office computer on to a CD and contiue working on it at home. The information on a CD could include, personal images, personal documents, games, personal photographs, accounting reports or data etc.

There is an important piece of information that we have missed, since a blank CD is quite cheap, new CD disks are often used just because the earlier disk could not be found and no attempts are made to restrict the number of disks that are used. If you have read the above paragraphs you will realize that any computer user would soon have dozens or maybe even hundreds of CD disks loaded with different types of information. Many of these CD disks would be quite useless in a short period of time and would need to be discarded.

Think Before You Throw Your CD Away

A sizable portion of the CD disks would contain information that is either outdated, incomplete or duplicated. It would therefore be a good idea to periodically browse your collection of CD disks and discard those that are not required. And how do you discard those useless CD disks? Throw them into the thrash box? Toss them over for the children to play with? At first glance, these options look easy, possible and tempting too. But, before you decide to do anything with those useless CD disks, remember that each of those disks has information on it and a normal CD can hold anywhere between 500 Mb to 800Mb of data !

You will therefore have to find a way to ensure that the information on the useless CD is made inaccessible to others. So the issue now is to learn how to destroy a CD once it is not required. If you have a CD that can be written over multiple times, it is unlikely that you would want to discard it. But if you hear that such a CD can be formatted clean and then disposed off in the trash can, this is not quite true. It is not very difficult to retrieve the information that was on the CD before you formatted it!

Ways To Destroy A CD

There are a few possible ways by which you could destroy a CD. Some of these are not safe and should never be tried, so please read the following information very carefully. Different manufacturers use different material to make the disk and the disks can therefore react differently when exposed to heat or strong physical impact. The ways that we have marked safe, can be used for all types of CD disks no matter what material or manufacturing process is used.

(a) Bending the CD and breaking it into few pieces: [unsafe] This would sound easy and safe but, destroying a CD in this way could cause injury to yourself and those around you. If the CD breaks with a snap, the sharp edge could cut and injure your hand. Some CD disks could break into small pieces and fly around in all directions, eye injury is possible for people and pets around the place. This method is therefore excluded from our discussion on, how to destroy a CD.

(b) Using the microwave to destroy a CD: [unsafe] Putting a CD in the microwave for a few seconds would surely destroy all the contents on the CD. However, the process could generate gases and vapours that could make it dangerous to use the microwave for cooking food. It is also possible that some CD disks could shatter to pieces when exposed to high temperatures that will be produced in a microwave oven. So this is one more method to destroy a CD that is not advisable.

(c) Throwing the CD in the trash can: [unsafe] This method would not be hazardous to your health but poses a threat in terms of privacy of information and data. Anyone could read the information on the CD and you obviously would not like this to happen. A similar danger would be faced if you allow the kids to use the discarded CD disks as toys.

(d) Using a machine to destroy a CD: [safe] You could use a machine to destroy a CD and the machine would physically ruin the disk and thereby make the information inaccessible. Machines used for destroying a CD range from low cost devices suitable for small office and home use and go right up to expensive machines that, can destroy a large volume of CD disks in a short time span. The simpler CD destroying machines punch holes through the CD and physically separate the punched out portions. The more complicated machines actually 'shred' the CD into small pieces. Read the manual that comes with the machine and follow instructions carefully, make sure that you get a machine that is suited for the number of CD disks that you expect to destroy.

(e) Another possible solution: [safe] Take the useless CD and drop it on a concrete playground or a road. Stamp on it heavily with the sole of your shoes by rotating your foot back and forth. Do this around half a dozen times and then flip the CD over and repeat the same thing. This should destroy all the data that is on the CD and is a reliable process, you can now toss the destroyed CD into a trash can.

Summary

With this we come to the end of a very interesting article on ways to destroy a CD. Keep the information handy as you never know when you would need to do this. For the more technical minded, we would like to mention a few additional points. Specialized security agencies like the FBI would have highly skilled data experts who can retrieve data contents on CD disks that are even physically broken to pieces. This should not worry most of us as it is unlikely that these experts would be after your personal holiday photographs or a copy of the resume that you used for your last job hunt.

The above contents have been prepared by the Kaisilver network team and we have tried to keep the content as simple and non-technical as possible. The information is provided in public interest and is not intended to advertise for any product or service used to destroy CD disks. The basic safety tips mentioned above will be useful for all users of of computers as information is almost always loaded on to CD disks from computer hard disks.

Who Is Kaisilver?
Kaisilver is the world's largest online provider of high end custom jewelry. All jewelry is custom made with high end craftsmanship and can be ordered in 14k or 18k white or yellow gold with gemstones of your choice. With direct and preferntial access to over 200 million carats of gemstones and a gigantic base of over 3,500 skilled craftsmen and artisans, we provide high quality merchandise with a depth and range that no other jewelry provider can match. All designs can be modified and changed as per your preference and you can even send us images of your favourite designs to be custom made. You can email us with queries and requirements at sales@kaisilver.com and our team of experts will answer all your questions.

Kaisilver created the world's first collection of high end men's rings and remains the leader in this market segment. We also make the world's best rendition of the traditional Irish Claddagh ring. Every jewel is worked on by some of the finest craftsmen and we do not mass produce merchandise. All gemstones are handpicked and custom cut by experts and we can procure just about any gemstone that you need. Our jewelry weighs around 50% to 60% more as compared to what others offer for similar designs. This healthy weight increases the longterm durability of the jewels and also keeps the gemstones and diamonds firmly mounted.

Our buyers include members of the U.S armed forces, doctors and surgeons, lawyers, financiers, hotel and resort owners, sportsmen, fashion models and people from every walk of life.

Click The Images Shown Below
To View Some Of Our Custom Jewelry

custom gold jewelry claddagh Irish rings

custom made jewellery Sapphire gent's ring