Disposing of cd's

[kimmer]

I had Toast way back when, but it didn't encrypt, so none of these are protected. I'm not worried about most of them, so the few that have really sensitive data on them. I will just keep. I asked my crafty pals and they are all swamped in cd's as well, so the rest I'm gonna recycle with the company on the link Paddy found.

[antony]

QUOTE(pendragon @ Dec 18 2006, 01:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you think about it on the front end and you're using Toast to burn your CD (not sure when/what version this feature first became available), it's a simple matter to check "Encrypted" prior to burning. Then, even if the CD is readable, the miscreant will still need to know your password to open/read the CD.

From the Toast 7 Help:

To encrypt a Mac Only disc:
1   Prepare your disc as you normally would. See Making a Mac Only Disc.
2   Click Encrypted in the left drawer.
3   Click the red Record button.
4   Enter a password when prompted and click OK.

•    Warning:   Keep your password in a safe place. If you forget your password, there will be no way to access the data on the disc.
The contents are 128-bit encrypted (which is really quite strong) to a single file and recorded to the disc.

To access an encrypted disc:
1   Insert the disc into a drive.
The disc contains a single file containing the compressed contents of the disc.
2   Double-click the encrypted file.
3   Enter the password when prompted and click OK.
The file will decrypt to the Desktop.

Easy and works great.

Thanks for the encryption hint. I've never noticed it and I will certainly use it when needed.

However, I'd like to point out a few negative things about encryption, besides forgetting passwords...
1) it's slower, always slower than those files we don't need to decrypt.
2) if a small portion of it was damaged (although unlikely, but those kind of things do occur), you might loss the while file (or section).
3) hard to recover this is more in the case of hard disk, when the system can't boot up, all your encrypted can pretty much declare dead.

Just my two cents.

[Mayo]

QUOTE

if a small portion of it was damaged (although unlikely, but those kind of things do occur), you might loss the while file (or section).

This is why I prefer utilities that can be used to encrypt individual files: if one file is messed up that is all that is lost and opening an individual file is a lot faster than decrypting a large folder.

Even when I am not working with encrypted files I prefer programs that store data as individual files instead of as part of a single large database file.  It is one reason I have stuck with Eudora for years. Most e-mail programs store messages in one large database; Eudora messages are individual files.

[Epaminondas]

Long before Internet days - long before "identity theft" was part of the lexicon - before personal privacy was of the current degree of concern - before CDRs came into existence - I was over at a colleague's house one cold winter evening -

Wine in hand, fire in the fireplace, our ladies sharing ladies' tasks and conversation unobtrusively in the background, our trading war stories in the foreground - everything very relaxed.

Everything was in its place.

All was fine with the world.

Then I noticed that, in addition to feeding wood into the fireplace, my host was also feeding the fireplace the occasional handful of mail.

Odd, I thought.

In fact - kinda bizarre.

What to say?

"Ah," says I. "I have finally met someone who is more paranoid than I am!"

He responded with an icy look and I knew that, once again, I had said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Says he: "I am burning these materials at my attorney's direction".

"Huh?" says I, somewhat stupidly.

"I have a lawsuit going with the hospital.  The first thing that my attorney told me to do was to not discuss the specifics of the lawsuit with anyone - everything is discoverable and almost everyone with whom I might speak is deposable.  The second thing that he told me was to watch what I put in the trash - particularly telephone records, check and charge card and travel records, any records of lawsuit matters, and anything that might prove embarrassing or advantageous to the other side. That my trash would be examined by private investigators hired by the other side - you can depend on it - that they would almost be considered negligent if they did not do so.  Telephone lists give them contacts to subpoena.  Check and charge card and travel records are the story of your life. Other things might also give them ammunition."

"All's fair in love and war - and a lawsuit is war."

"My attorney told me to burn all the stuff that might be of concern. 'If in doubt, burn it.'"

"They can't really look through your trash, can they," says I?

"Yup," says he.  "All perfectly legal.  Once you throw something in the trash, you lose all expectation of privacy. Anyone can legally look through it.  Anyone. That's the American Way."

"You might want to consider doing this sort of thing, yourself,"  says he.  "You never know when you might get sued in America - a man can get blindsided.  I know that I was.  By the time you know that you have a reason to start doing this, it may be too late."

"Just a word to the wise," he said.

I shrugged the whole matter off.

Of course.


Years later.

Older and wiser.

I can tell you that CDs slowly burn blue on top of a stack of burning papers and that they put off a uniquely foul black smoke.  And that they leave no obviously detectable residue.

And that there are probably few things more secure in this world than those things that simply do not exist.


Best regards,

Epaminondas

_______________________________________________


"What do the simple folk do?"

Lerner and Lowe
1960

[Gregg]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Dec 16 2006, 11:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Our shredder doesn't eat cd's, so what is the best way to destroy the data on these? And is there a way to recycle them?

I bet someone could make a dress with 'em. What to do about the holes though...

[jcarter]

You could take them to the nearest rifle club(range) and scale/frizbee them out like clay pidgeons and shoot at them with a shotgun.  Or hang them on the target racks and pop them with .22s.  Try to get the 'bulls eye'.
I am not kidding, thats what my brother, my husband, and I did with a box of my old 78rpm records.
Its fun.  
Jane

[kimmer]

Epaminondas, great story. Was the wine good?

Gregg, I've seen crocheted dresses with fairly large holes, so no biggy. Besides, nowadays they wear their underwear as outerwear. YEESH!

Jane! Do you know how much those 78's are worth at antique shops and used record stores? hehehe

[krissel]

Thanks for the tip, Harv. I didn't know Toast had that feature.


As for microwaving or actual burning of CDs, there is the problem of toxic fumes from the plastic and metals involved. Not sure I would want to do it very frequently or for large numbers.

[Mayo]

QUOTE

there is the problem of toxic fumes

Like I mentioned earlier, up to 15 seconds or so fumes aren't a problem.  Nuke it for too long and it can get quite foul-smelling...

There should be a warning label on microwaves that reads "When nuking CDs, be sure to use this oven in a well-ventilated area."

Yep, trash is considered to be in a public place when put out at the curb so you cannot have any expectation of privacy.  Law enforcement can go through the trash without having to secure a search warrant. In 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in California vs Greenwood that evidence seized during a search of trash left for pick-up did not violate the Fourth Amendment  protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Going through the discovery process during a lawsuit is the legal equivalent of a thorough proctological exam minus the K-Y Jelly. Some folks might say that it is a lot worse than the medical exam...

[Epaminondas]

QUOTE

Was the wine good?

A California chardonnay - oaky.

It went well with the oak burning in the fireplace . . .

QUOTE

As for microwaving or actual burning of CDs, there is the problem of toxic fumes from the plastic and metals involved. Not sure I would want to do it very frequently or for large numbers.

CDs made by Taiyo Yuden in Japan are among the highest quality CDs available.  They are made with cyanine dyes.

Many other quality CDs are made with pthalocyanine dyes.

Cyanine.  Pthalocyanine.  I dunno, but -

A lot of materials which include cyanide (does this apply to cyanine? any chemists out there?) incorporated within said materials give off cyanide gas when burned.  Another reason to get out of a burning building as quickly as possible - "smoke inhalation" can mean cyanide inhalation.  Also airplanes - people who died in plane fires in the past may have died of smoke inhalation from the cyanide given off by burning seat cushions rather than from the flames.  Which brings us to -

Whether or not burning CDs give off cyanide gas, I do not know - but it sure would be interesting if someone here would do the experiment to find out. If he - or if his survivors - would post the results to this bulletin board, I would be most appreciative.

As for me - I burn CDs (as in, "burn in the fireplace") only in a well ventilated situation with a fireplace with a  very good draft - one window in the room open to maximize through ventilation - central heating turned off to avoid suction of any fumes into the forced air intake vents - and I go ahead and leave the room for the duration.

Just a wee bit cautious, mind you.  CDs burn surprisingly slowly - and the black smoke that CDs give off is really, really nasty looking.  Just looking at it makes you want to be somewhere else right now - kinda the same feeling you get as when you say the wrong thing to a high ranking motorcycle gang member . . .


Oh - one more note - CDs are not archival media. Do not use them as such.

I know a girl currently getting her Ph.D in library IT.  Gets to defend her thesis soon.  :-) She talks with university library archivists all the time - the kind of people who keep maps around for centuries.  You know - picky types. Sacred duty and all that. According to her, writable CDs (CDRs) are specifically considered to NOT be archival material in libraries - CDRs are expected to last five or so years.  

Writable DVDs are much worse - she just laughed.  They do not touch them.

The most anguished CD failures that I have heard have been professional photographers who have gone digital and have lost important photographs to their CD "archives."  

"Why the long face?" I reassure them: "you can go back into that war zone and just take the same photograph you took before right over again . . ."


Ya gotta move fast, sometimes.


Happy archiving -

Epaminondas

_____________________________________________


What do the simple folk do?
They burn CDs 'til they turn blue . . .

- apologies to L and L -