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Hardware The Five Second CD and DVD Destroyer
Marcus Yam (Blog) - November 15, 2006 11:03 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 57 comment(s) - last by Balwyn.. on Nov 18 at 1:23 AM

Before and after

How to destroy a CD
You'll be thankful to have one of these when the feds come a knockin'

Japanese computer electronics company Elecom today revealed its portable CD/DVD destroyer, news of which Gizmodo has coupled with a poll. In what could be the technogeek's equivalent of a cocaine addict flushing kilos of blow down the toilet, the SCR-CD001 data destroyer will render any CD/DVD unreadable within five seconds.

The SCR-CD001 is powered through any USB connection that can supply 500mA, making it usable with all personal computers. Its dimensions of 60×20×50 millimeters and weight of 130 grams also make it portable for data flushing with a laptop.

Elecom specifies a continous duty time of one minute, which means that a maximum of a dozen discs can partake in a single shred-fest. Elecom also states in its Japanese press release that its product is meant to render optical discs unreadable, not to completely destroy all data on the disc.

The SCR-CD001 is will be available at the end of November for 3,150 yen (approx. US$26.72).

While this represents the most portable optical media destroying device, it is not the first. Many modern paper shredders include a mode to disfigure the surface of the disc similar to Elecom's product. Plextor has its PlexEraser drive which completely eradicates all signs of previously written data by writing over the lead-in area and the data portion of the disc. And of course, there's always the 'microwave light show' method or 'caveman' alternative of using sharp tools to etch your own sketch into the disc surface.

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cool coaster
By Kuroyama on 11/16/2006 1:11:53 AM , Rating: 5
That post-shredding CD will make a much nicer coaster. They need to sell a deluxe version where you can pick your pattern, for even more coaster fun!




RE: cool coaster
By YanBiz on 11/16/06, Rating: 0
RE: cool coaster
By Lord Evermore on 11/16/2006 4:34:56 AM , Rating: 2
They point out that it makes them "unreadable", which implies you can't just pop it in a CDROM drive. A forensics expert with a custom laser reader could recover the sequences of bits that didn't get scratched, and possibly recover usable data from that or even reconstruct the missing data as well. The idea that this could be something you use when the Feds show up is patently invalid because of that.


RE: cool coaster
By alexsch8 on 11/16/2006 8:02:44 AM , Rating: 2
I agree. They have those disc polishing kits that take out scratches. This looks like it only scratches the surface which can be polished out. I think a shredder is a much better alternative - and I think it's faster to use the shredder too. The one I have does it in under 5 seconds ;-)


RE: cool coaster
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 8:52:22 AM , Rating: 2
It scratches the back of the CD/DVD and that will permanently damage the data and no amount of polish can replace it.

As for 'reconstructing the missing data', good luck making that stick in court to abramhof when his lawyer is present.
Might work for the whitehouse though "we interpolated the missing data to be locations and evidence of WMD"


RE: cool coaster
By BladeVenom on 11/16/2006 9:05:43 AM , Rating: 2
No interpolation required. It looks like over 90% of the CD is still in tact. Hardly effective against any serious effort to recover data.


RE: cool coaster
By geeg on 11/16/2006 11:17:07 AM , Rating: 2
very effective if the data is compressed.


RE: cool coaster
By Zirconium on 11/16/2006 5:31:14 PM , Rating: 2
If you are going to be compressing sensitive data, you might as well encrypt it then.


RE: cool coaster
By Oregonian2 on 11/16/2006 2:02:16 PM , Rating: 2
I'd be effective scratching up the label-side of a CD where the data is stored under a layer of "paint". The data storage layer can be attacked directly. But in a DVD, the data is in the center of the disk protected by two very thick very tough layers of plastic. Scratches won't get to the data-storage layers, so recovery techniques of smoothing the scratches might work.


RE: cool coaster
By Lazarus Dark on 11/16/2006 2:34:57 PM , Rating: 2
Id still rather have the plexeraser. Its got that cool orange tray and you get bragging rights plus I trust its complete data erasure ability more than the spirograph-o-matic shown here


RE: cool coaster
By Souka on 11/16/2006 10:12:18 PM , Rating: 2
but its sooooo slow....

a good paper shredder is better.... or we just toss them into our confidential to-be-shred box that is locked.... truck picks up 2x/month and will confetti shred everything within.



RE: cool coaster
By Balwyn on 11/18/2006 1:23:05 AM , Rating: 2
The average home already has a 5 second CD/DVD destroyer that is much better than this.
a) put CD/DVD into Microwave oven
b) set oven to full power for 5 seconds
c) Watch the data containing metal layer spark, sizzle, emit smoke.
d) Inspect disk and observe the nice charred metal layer fill of holes and cracks and the plastic substrate warped and bubbled.
e) Do NOT put disk into drive or it may shatter and damage your drive
Nothing will be able to read this data


GET IT RIGHT
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 8:58:46 AM , Rating: 4
Listen up fools, it scratches the BACK of the cd/dvd with the layer where the bits are burned in, therefore anything that's scratched away will be gone.
It does not scratch the side with the clear plastic (although you people might put in the dvd's backwards I guess)
If it just scratched the clear plastic it would be easy to retrieve the data.
As for error correction, HAHA, you must be confusing a dvd/cd with a holograph, if you think any error correction can correct such damage you are being silly.




RE: GET IT RIGHT
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 9:10:00 AM , Rating: 2
At least that's how I would expect it to work.


RE: GET IT RIGHT
By BladeVenom on 11/16/2006 9:12:37 AM , Rating: 2
That's only true of CDs, which do only have a thin back coat. A DVD's back side is solid plastic with the data layer in the middle.


RE: GET IT RIGHT
By rtrski on 11/16/2006 9:17:57 AM , Rating: 2
Sure, things like CRC, data parity, and compression don't exist either...once data is gone its gone and never recoverable? There are no such things as companies that can recover data off off HDDs with corrupted file allocation tables? Codebreakers only ever work with *complete* message intercepts, not partials? Try again.

The vast majority of data file types have a fair amount of redundancy and/or wasted space built in that can permit reconstruction of large amounts of data if you know (or can guess from context) what the file type was to begin with.

Might not stand up in a court of law, depending on the level of reconstruction, but doesn't prevent potential reinterpolation of the missing bits.


Stupid product
By ninjit on 11/16/2006 1:10:42 AM , Rating: 2
If you really need to destroy a disc, throw it in a fire pit, or use a shredder - many basic shredders can do away with cds, and probably in under 5s too. Even my cheapy one from WalMart can do CDs.

Why the F* would I want to use a USB powered can opener to do that?
And just from those pictures, I'm not sure the CD would be completely unreadable - I've had some heavy scuffed CDs that would work in one drive but not another.




RE: Stupid product
By gsellis on 11/16/2006 7:31:26 AM , Rating: 2
Beware on the shredder. The shear created by the blades could melt the plastic to the blades.

Science - platics are formed by an extrusion or injection machine with a screw in a heated barrel. The plastic is feed in where it warms, then the next section of the screw compresses the plastic, aka shear. The shear section completes the melt. A high-speed blade can do the same on the edges. You might have seen it with a drill bit while drilling a hole in plastic and fouled the tip or first flights.


RE: Stupid product
By TomZ on 11/16/2006 5:51:22 PM , Rating: 2
My shredder turns its blades at about 10 RPM - hardly fast enough to generate any heat.


RE: Stupid product
By mindless1 on 11/17/2006 5:06:55 PM , Rating: 2
Science- means not making up nonsense until you've TESTED it.

Dissimilar situations cannot be assumed same merely because some other kind of "plastic" was involved.


Question?
By copiedright on 11/16/2006 6:15:09 AM , Rating: 2
Why not just snap it?

Its cheaper, easier and quicker, just make sure you do it over a bin and break it away from your face. Works every time!




RE: Question?
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 9:09:22 AM , Rating: 2
A dedicated detective could recover much data from two halves, you don't want that if you are a congressman or terrorist who's looking at jailtime if any data is retrieved.
Or someone could use the retrieved data for industrial espionage, or just get a database of people for identity theft or creditcard fraud etc. if your bankmanager wants to ditch a DVD.



RE: Question?
By copiedright on 11/16/2006 5:10:42 PM , Rating: 2
But for the average Joe, who isn't a terrorist or congressman, simply snapping a CD should suffice.


RE: Question?
By Risforrocket on 11/17/2006 1:53:13 AM , Rating: 2
Au contraire sir, I am not at all comfortable with simply snapping my CD containing my thesis on a new interdimensional math using a vibrational-energy basis.

Am I a terrorist?

Do I sound like a congressman to you?


Beaten by a strong pair of scissors.
By yacoub on 11/16/2006 6:27:41 AM , Rating: 2
In five seconds you can cut a disc into multiple pieces with a strong pair of scissors. Somehow I would feel more confident in something that actually renders the disc no longer a disc than I would something that just makes fancy scratches along parts of the surface.




RE: Beaten by a strong pair of scissors.
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 9:02:20 AM , Rating: 2
I tried to cut a DVD with a scissors once, I found it to be damn tough and to be prone to crack in unpredictable ways and to emit poisonous materials and to litter the surroundings with nasty sharp splinters (laced with nasty chemicals obviously).
I'd say this device was preferable.


By crystal clear on 11/16/2006 9:26:43 AM , Rating: 2
Then PUNCH a few holes in it-simple


By lemonadesoda on 11/16/2006 4:30:09 PM , Rating: 2
Strong pair of scissors = hedge trimmers (pruners) or wire-cutting pliers.


fuck this, use a...
By piroroadkill on 11/16/2006 2:42:14 AM , Rating: 3
microwave.




RE: fuck this, use a...
By piroroadkill on 11/16/06, Rating: 0
RE: fuck this, use a...
By Avatar28 on 11/16/2006 7:36:17 AM , Rating: 2
Hells yeah! Microwave FTW! :-) Soo pretty too.


?
By GodisanAtheist on 11/16/2006 3:49:23 AM , Rating: 3
Whats stopping someone from putting the CD in upside down and destroying the actual written surface of the disk?




RE: ?
By bobsmith1492 on 11/16/2006 6:56:45 AM , Rating: 2
That's the point...


Expensive Toy
By PurdueRy on 11/16/2006 1:28:56 AM , Rating: 2
Looks like they got there inspiration from my old spiralgraph toys I used to play with!

I suppose I can see a use for this...however I do wonder what they mean by "unreadable". Technically, if I crack a CD in two or scratch it up with a knife...it is "unreadable" however, I bet some company could still pull off bits of usable information. Somehow I doubt this device would stop ALL the data from being read if someone was determined enough.




RE: Expensive Toy
By peternelson on 11/16/2006 5:49:16 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, the set of spiragraph rings was teh rox0r toy. I had many happy hours making patterns.

As for security, this isn't really, it just inconveniences people wanting to read the data. First attack is polish surface (eg kits for making games cds work again). Failing that a full NSA style bit by bit recovery could be performed.

Remember that cd audio and data formats contain redundancy so that they are resistant to minor scratches. Most data can be recovered, and the error correction can be used to regenerate a little more.

I'm with the general concensus: microwave, blowtorch, black and decker sanding attachment, power lathe, cordite, nuclear blast....

Maybe the NSA or FBI has shares in this company because they want to encourage people to use defeatable data destruction methods.


Pointless
By Suomynona on 11/16/2006 1:42:45 AM , Rating: 2
This seems pretty pointless (for anything beyond making decorative coasters)... It doesn't look like its going to prevent the data from being read by someone who was really keen (looks like it just puts scratches in the plastic that could be buffed out by someone with the right gear). Also wouldn't it be faster/easier/simpler/cheaper to just put your cds in the microwave & destroy all the data completely? (hell even just snapping the cd in half usually causes it to explode into shards, which again would be quicker and easier).




RE: Pointless
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 9:04:24 AM , Rating: 2
Shards laced with materials like cyanide, fun for your mom to clean up.


K
By umeng2002 on 11/16/2006 1:51:36 AM , Rating: 2
I usually take "sensitive" CDs to a propane torch.




RE: K
By L33tMasta on 11/16/2006 5:57:02 AM , Rating: 2
Or the microwave.


power tools
By rika13 on 11/16/2006 6:15:54 AM , Rating: 2
drills work great for entire spools if you cant nuke them, especially on dvd's as they shatter into little pieces




RE: power tools
By Wwhat on 11/16/2006 9:11:26 AM , Rating: 2
One wonders what you've been up to to get such experience.


Is it really that hard to destroy a disc?
By encryptkeeper on 11/16/2006 10:52:28 AM , Rating: 2
Looks more like a Spirograph to me.




By flexy on 11/16/2006 3:44:37 PM , Rating: 2
laserpointer ??

whooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh.....swipe acrosss a bunch ?

Anyone tried this ??? Is the laser strong enough ?


Why not...
By exdeath on 11/16/2006 10:56:03 AM , Rating: 2
Why not just fold them in half?

Takes about 2 seconds to fold and crease to snap the disc, and just before it snaps the resulting extreme curvature deformation of the disc usually blisters and peals up the non elastic reflective and dye data layers pretty much making the disc a useless collection of polymers and metal.




RE: Why not...
By exdeath on 11/16/2006 10:57:24 AM , Rating: 2
or just notch the inside hub and stick it in a 52x CDROM drive :)

An old drive with a busted laser could be put to use still.


I already have something much better
By ironwill on 11/16/2006 11:01:47 AM , Rating: 2
Just put your CD or DVD in a microwave and run it for a few seconds. There's no doubt about the data's un-recoverability that way.




By Sulphademus on 11/16/2006 3:26:37 PM , Rating: 2
We got this great thing at work called a CD shredder. Cost $60 and turns optical media into cross-cut confetti. Makes a great crunching sound while it's at it too!

(Never tried the microwave method though...)


pretty pattern, but...
By soydios on 11/16/2006 2:12:07 AM , Rating: 2
The pattern it makes is purty and all, but it's only unreadable in conventional drives. Take it to a data-recovery company or the NSA, and they'll get the data off it.

Personally, I find the 'microwave light show' much more entertaining and gratifying when I want to utterly eradicate all data on a disk.




Operation time
By Lord Evermore on 11/16/2006 4:45:33 AM , Rating: 2
"continous duty time of one minute, which means that a maximum of a dozen discs can partake in a single shred-fest"

Actually it'd be more than that, since it takes time to swap discs. The actual time you could operate it in sequence would be slightly more than 1 minute, given the cooling as you swap discs, assuming heat is the reason for the 1 minute limit, and ignoring any wiggle room in the limit. So probably 14 discs for 1 minute 10 seconds total operating time, with 26 seconds of cooling time in 2 second intervals between discs if you're fast - 1 minute 36 seconds actual work for you. For just one minute, only 8 discs and you could start a 9th.




Surface
By Egglick on 11/16/2006 5:35:37 AM , Rating: 2
Unless they're idiots, I would hope this thing destroys more than just the protective plastic layer. Otherwise you could just send it in to a professional resurfacing place, and get it fixed for pocket change.




The 3 S
By crystal clear on 11/16/2006 9:23:29 AM , Rating: 2
SIMPLE -SAFE -SECURE-HOW???

A Hammer to destroy a HARD DISK & a SCISSOR to destroy CDs.
or in simple language

SMASH IT & CUT IT




By AmbioticSynapse on 11/16/2006 6:53:45 PM , Rating: 2
I think its funny that someone would actually shell out any money to buy something where there is alternative ways to destroying cd/dvd's. I mean the microwave will destroy it fairly cheap, and completely. and so will bending the cd enough (yanno right before the breaking point or that cracking sound you'll get right before it shards on you) plus a butane torch, or those torch lighters can destroy cd's quickly too and effectivly. As for hard disks (via hard drives) those can be utterly damaged by swiping an earth magnet or any type of strong magnets, by placing one near the drive or on the case the disk drive wont be cable of reading. Earth magnets are resonably cheap btw :)

Although if you aren't doing something illegal or you dont have a business where *stupid employees* would put vauable information on cheap non encrypted cd's (you're looking for trouble anyway), why worry about it in the first place.

Unless you have ulterior motive, I wouldn't consider buying a toy that from the pictures, and the instructions clearly show you that they are scratching the plastic side of the cd, rather than the foil side, which means they are falsely advertising, or someone isn't reading the ad or description correctly. Plus it clearly states...
quote:
making it usable with all personal computers.
That doesn't mean that someone couldn't obtain that information, with the right technology they could obtain it, and then your screwed. Hell like someone stated earlier, you can buff that sh*t out. They have scratch removers that can fill in the scrathes so that your cheap a$$ laser eye on your personal computer disk drive can read it. I think they're about 4 dollars and some change at Walmart.

So I would re-think considering using this "gadget' for destroying a cd with information you wish for people not to read. My opinion, buy a paper shredder with a cd shedder, place the foil side towards you, drop, shred, and vwalla, damaged beyond all reconition. AND for those creative type that like to use everything even if its damaged beyond all reconition : it'll have some nifty little pieces you could use as mosaic tiles you can glue on a foam ball to create a cheap a$$ disco ball. :)~

Furthermore, buying crap like this and expecting the cd to not be readable to all computers only means that your an idiot and that you need to take some time to re-read the whole description , SLOWLY , rather than bits and pieces. Then expecting a miricle out of a simple toy or "gadget." Thats like buying a lottery ticket and it having a disclaimer in very small text below saying " everyone that buys this ticket will win...eventually, if you follow the lottery instructions " .




Would You Like fries with that?
By Risforrocket on 11/17/2006 1:45:22 AM , Rating: 2
Well after reading 85% of these posts I have concluded that we need a more reliable method of destroying sensitive data which has found its way to a CD.

May I suggest a George Foreman grill? I believe it is non-stick although there could be issues there, we obviously need a test volunteer.

I feel especially concerned with our congressmen and congresswomen as well as our agents of espionoge - I have always thought highly of James Bond.




Yawn
By l3ored on 11/16/06, Rating: -1
RE: Yawn
By flexy on 11/16/2006 2:28:29 AM , Rating: 3
if it just scratches..wouldnt it be possible to sand and polish the CD until its readable again ? Give me a bunch of various grain size sand-paper....

If the actual (data carrying) aluminum layer is not damaged..there should always be a way to recover data.




RE: Yawn
By Lord Evermore on 11/16/2006 4:39:18 AM , Rating: 2
It's very unlikely you could get the plastic polished well enough with any grit of sandpaper to allow a laser to read it. Any tiny imperfection would cause the laser to refract away from the read head, although if it's small enough it might just barely still hit the head.

But they only claim unreadability. Not secure destruction. I don't read Japanese so I don't know if they go into detail about the exact depth of damage. And you can still read any sequences of undamaged bits with a custom laser system, just not with a CDROM (unless you can command it to ignore the errors and return any readable bits).


RE: Yawn
By ZmaxDP on 11/16/2006 2:04:38 PM , Rating: 2
Actually,

You can polish just about anything to a "good enough" finish. Start with a rough grit sandpaper and work your way down to wet sandpapers, Emory cloths, and eventually you can even use car wax. Then you can buff it with a very soft fabric and wow - you're CD is fine. I did the same thing with a CD that an old room-mate scratched as revenge. When I was playing the same CD the next day (albeit a thinner, trimmer, more fragile CD) he was very confused.

Unfortunately, only three songs still worked because I accidentally scratched the foil side while polishing. Oops.


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