Software

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Data Destruction 101: Ever microwaved a CD?

0 helpful
5 replies

by robo_dev

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

It's reallly cool.

Using the microwave oven at the office, or at a friend's house....

1 cup water
1 CD

(the water is to prevent damage to the magnetron of the oven)

place the cup of water in the oven, along with the CD. Set timer for around five seconds. Longer times may result in a burning plastic smell.

Press start. Do not handle the CD until it has cooled.

Besides the interesting plasma arcing, the vaporized aluminum makes a pretty pattern to show your friends. Plus your data has been permanently destroyed.

5 replies

by dumphrey

the microwave at work or a friends house... And even with the water for "protection" I would assume this has a strong chance to cause damage to your microwave?

by robo_dev

If you did not use the cup of water for ballast, and you put the CD in there for too long, you could cause the magnetron of the microwave to overheat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven
(note photo of microwaved DVD-R)

Also, the plastic of the CDROM might catch on fire, which would create other issues, not limited to the nasty burning smell.

If you use the shortest posible amount of time, and have a cup of water in there, the risk is small for a fairly new good quality oven.

Done it lots of time at the office.

Also have nuked memory sticks, twinkees in the package, grapes (pinhole in one end for propulsion), and bars of ivory soap. Ivory soap is fun since it expands to about 6x normal.

The key thing is the cup of water for ballast. A no-load condition causes the oven to literally cook itself. All the sparks and plasma look exciting, but don't do any damage.

When doing this at the office, it's important to have a device known as a 'look out' to defend against those other devices known as 'supervisors'.

by ic-it

We used to do it for 3 seconds and watch the sparks dance. 3 CDs set up in a teepee style with one as the base will catch fire in about 5 seconds. ;-)

This discussion is closed to new replies.