Disk Busters- No Myths Here!

Yesterday I was given the job (and pleasure) of destroying a bunch of old 3 1/2" floppy disks. You know, the type that went with your Apple 2+. I distinctly remember when those things went out of style. It happened in the course of about a month. One month I had two boxes full of lost disks in the computer lab where I worked, and the next month... I still had two boxes full of lost disks. The difference was, nobody was asking for them anymore. Instead everybody was wandering around with these magical little thumb drive thingies that cost $20 for 500 MB.  Pretty soon I had two boxes of lost disks AND a box of lost magical thumb drive thingies.

But that is neither here nor there. The point is, I was asked to dispose of these disks in the easiest way possible that would nevertheless make sure that nobody could get at whatever information may have been on them. I was going to use a supermagnet but I didn't find one, so I went with the next best option- mutilation by hand.

This method was slower and less efficient but exponentially more fun. In the process I also discovered that not all floppies were made alike. Some brands were much better than others. Sony was obnoxiously difficult to destroy, while cheapo Memorex disks shattered into delightful splinters with minor provocation. Here, in ascending order, I have rated the disks on destructibility:

3M
score: 1/10
very tough and hard to break. The glue that holds the magnetic disk to the center hub was strong as well, to the point that I sometimes ripped the disk trying to remove the hub.

SONY
score: 2/10
Also very tough to break. The plastic was more brittle than 3M but it was thick enough that I had to bend it really far in order to make it snap. The glue was very strong.

VERBATIM
score: 3/10
The plastic was very similar to that of 3M but perhaps slightly more brittle. The glue was strong.

MEMOREX
score: 3/10
The plastic was identical to that of 3M- a real beast to open sometimes. The center glue was weaker though, making it easier to remove the hub.

IBM
score: 5/10
The plastic is thin, flimsy garbage that shatters easily. The hub glue was strong.

NO-NAME DISKS
score:6/10
They shatter nicely and the strength of the glue tends to be less than impressive.

MEMOREX COOL DISK
score: 9/10
This is the ultimate destructive experience! A simple twist sends cracks all through the diskette. A violent wrench makes it shatter into fragments. How, you ask, can anything be more destructable?

FUJIFILM
score: 10/10
The plastic is fragile, but no more so than IBM. What makes this one so scandalously weak? The glue- or lack thereof- is what really sets this disk apart. I am quite certain that some of the magnetic disks had fallen off of the hubs before I ever even touched them!