DVD / CD Shredder    Rating:

03/04/03

Not all computer disasters occur inside your computer. Sometimes the disaster occurs when critical financial data is stolen from storage media.

We all understand the importance of shredding important documents such as old financial statements and charge card receipts. Indeed, a paper shredder, once an exotic piece of equipment reserved for corporations, has become a home and home office staple.

But what about electronic documents?  In PC Fear Factor, I advise users on how to shred data on their hard disc. But what about data back ups that we store on CDs and DVDs?  If you are not using re-writeable media, you will eventually want to get rid of your old back ups. The problem is: how?

Breaking CDs is a dangerous undertaking, and cutting them in half of defacing them manually in some other way to make them unreadable is a labor intensive proposition. (I have heard of people destroying CDs in microwave ovens, but this is a very dangerous practice.)

Of course, you can buy a heavy duty shredder capable of shredding CDs, but that will set you back several thousand dollars.

Relax. An effective, efficient low-cost solution for the home, home office, and small office user is at hand. It's Alera Technologies' DVD / CD Shredder. This dandy little unit lists for $49.99, but can be purchased at Amazon for only $34.88.

The Alera shredder doesn't actually shred CDs, as the name implies. It defaces the CDs by placing thousands of little ridges on the surface, rendering them  unreadable. The "Alera DVD / CD Defacer" would be a more accurate name. After seeing what this unit does to the surface of a CD, I doubt that the data could be recovered by any means.

To use, simply stick the media face down in one end and let the auto-feed mechanism take over. If you have a number of CDs to shred, keep feeding them in. There is no need to manually remove CDs - the next CD you feed in will push out the previous one.

We were able to achieve a feed rate of 15 discs a minute right off the bat, and with practice we feel that 20 discs a minute is possible.  This is less than the advertised rate of 30 discs a minute, but it is still plenty fast.

This compact unit weighs about 8 pounds and fits on your desktop. You will need about five inches of space behind the unit to allow room for the defaced CD to eject.

This is an absolute fool-proof, must-have tool for any security conscious computer user.

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