It seems Plextor are to launch an Optical Media Eraser, for those security conscious folks. Now I can not think any computer hardware enthusiast buying this, but it might have its place in the workplace. That is, until you think about it -- there are many more cost effective, and perhaps more importantly more enjoyable, methods of doing this. Hence, I declare this certain piece of hardware 'innovation' pointless.

Daily tech reports:

Plextor will soon be launching the PlexEraser drive which will completely eradicate all signs of previously written data to any optical media out there. Generally a DVDRW or CDRW can be erased with a regular $40-$60 drive but for those with pressed discs or write-once media, the PlexEraser can be used to delete data on the disc and destroy the media forever in 6 minutes. If the PlexEraser drive is anything like the PlexEraser software included with many newer Plextor optical drives it will write over the Lead-in area and the data portion of the disc to rid the world of all things "my eyes only".

Now I am sure we all know a good 10 seconds of tough scratching with ball point pen will render a compact disc useless; although, it is still possible to get the data if one is persistent enough. So unless you've really got something to hide, the pen makes a good compromise of "security for your buck."

Despite this, there are still other ways to render your disc useless. One could simply pick up a shredder which will also take CDs, and will shred the disc to bits. I doubt the FBI are going to bother calling the jigsaw masters to read your disc.

Thirdly, my most effective solution would be to shove your discs in the fire. There will be no way to recover the data after this treatment; better yet you can warm your home in the winter with CDs and DVDs. No need for that Prescot anymore!