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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:34:09 AM EDT
[#1]
So you missed that episode of "MythBusters" did ya'? They busted most of the myths around erasing the info, microwave didn't work, magnets didn't even work. I forget what they did finally use to erase the info., I think it was a degauser set to a high power level. I'm sure many here saw the shot too, maybe we can get one to chime in with the answer. Or you could do a google search on "MythBusters" shows and check the info. they've got posted.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:34:43 AM EDT
[#2]
Bulk media eraser from radio shack. It's just a big, powerful electromagnet.
Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:35:52 AM EDT
[#3]
Nuke it from orbit....
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:37:47 AM EDT
[#4]
Walk into any active MRI suite at your local radiology clininc - just make sure you don't have anything metal on you - oh - and don't forget to take out any CCs and DL you may have in your wallet.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:38:16 AM EDT
[#5]
Degausser. Back when I worked at Westinghouse, on very high voltage power supplies for radar systems, one would occasionally arc and trip off. The collapse of the magnetic field around it would erase every card in my wallet, until I wised up and quit carrying them around while at work.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:40:00 AM EDT
[#6]
My fav portion was the "electric-eel" testing......  Mike |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:41:02 AM EDT
[#7]
Tannerite! (People haven't had their coffee yet, I guess.)
Cutting it into pieces is said to work, since magnets always form dipoles. Dremel tool, sandpaper, scrape with a tactical folder, anything that will physically remove the strip (and cut it into little tiny pieces) will do nicely. I'm told that incineration usually works, too. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:42:49 AM EDT
[#8]
Next time you're checking out at Wal-Mart slide your card round on the demagnetizer deal they use to keep you from setting off the alarm when you leave with electronics.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:43:56 AM EDT
[#9]
It worked on one of mine. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 6:54:48 AM EDT
[#10]
Why do you want to do this? Trying to secure an old card that you no longer wish to use? Or hoping to erase any information used to track your purchases?
Be aware that many credit card service companies charge an extra fee for cards that do not read properly in the automatic card reader. This can cause a merchant operating on a thin margin to actually lose money on the sale. So intentionally sabotaging your credit cards doesn't just deny information to other people, it can also impact the businesses you do business with. Mechanically scraping away the magnetic stripe on a card you no longer wish to use is probably very reliable. Sandpaper will work nicely since the grit in my wallet seems to damage the stripes on many of my cards without even trying. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:03:13 AM EDT
[#11]
I might as well be the one to say it...
Tannerite. 
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:19:33 AM EDT
[#12]
Take a hard drive apart. There are some strong magnets in them, which WILL erase a credit card & driver license. Mythbusters is wrong.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:19:38 AM EDT
[#13]
Torch it into oblivion.
Nothing cleanses quite like fire. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:25:47 AM EDT
[#14]
The few times I've watched "Mythbusters" I have not been particularly impressed, I've designed and supervised testing regimens and their backyard efforts may make for good TV, but are lacking in thorough engineering & science. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:28:40 AM EDT
[#15]
Agreed. It's entertainment, not science. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:30:40 AM EDT
[#16]
A magnet of any type will work just fine. Women typically have problems with their cards when they have a maget (usually something on a key chain) that will erase track data on cards in their purse. I have even had magnetic name badges that I wear on my shirt to erase track data on cards in my pocket.
Keep in mind that all you are doing is rendering the card unusable. It doesn't do a thing to erase the transactions you have already done. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 7:59:19 AM EDT
[#17]
Go have an MRI, If you get into the field of a 1.0 -1.5 Tesla MRI You will erase everything.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 8:18:02 AM EDT
[#18]
+1 for the MRI. I got one about 5 yrs ago, and it wiped out EVERYTHING I had in my wallet...which was sitting on the table 15 feet from the MRI machine
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Posted: 8/18/2004 8:36:17 AM EDT
[#19]
I used to work for medical device company that had products with strong electromagnets. I forgot to leave my wallet in my desk one day, and every card it it was junk. Credit cards, ATM cards, etc. had to be replaced.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 9:06:17 AM EDT
[#20]
Nevermind all the technical answers given above - I'm curious WHY YOU WANT TO KNOW? Is this some fiendishly-clever master-plan to curtail your spouse's spending? Or some sort of nasty shoolyard revenge plot? |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 9:09:16 AM EDT
[#21]
Correct. I've also been able to use those magnets to degauss monitors with slight discoloration on them from other magnetic interference. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 9:15:34 AM EDT
[#22]
I used to have an eel skin wallet and every credit card and atm card went bad. I had to get replacement cards and a new wallet.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 9:23:59 AM EDT
[#23]
So you got one on your Divers Lic. too.
I just rubbed mine on the egde of a cinder block. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 9:36:10 AM EDT
[#24]
Let me take it into the MRI machines at work. So far in six years, I've managed not to erase my cards.
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Posted: 8/18/2004 9:47:27 AM EDT
[#25]
I remember a story mentioned in one of Scott Adams' (non-cartoon) books, I think it was The Joy of Work. A man who worked at an MRI unit in a hospital bet his not-too-bright coworker a coke that the coworker couldn't toss his wallet through the MRI ring.
He said it was well worth the coke when his coworker found out that all his cards were erased. You could buy a card writer/rewriter and put fake info on it. |
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Posted: 8/18/2004 10:21:57 AM EDT
[#26]
One time pafume spilled on my gas card an melted the strip off, so maybe rubing alcohol.
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Posted: 8/19/2004 1:43:00 AM EDT
[#27]
Think about it a little, if the clerk at the credit union can change the data on it with a little box that doesn't effect other cards in the immediate vicinity, just about any magnet will screw it up enough to be unreadable
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Posted: 8/19/2004 9:56:02 AM EDT
[#28]
Degausser (used to wipe magnetic media) seems to do it. Erasing the strip on your DL doesn't do you any good. I get probably about 1 in 5 Driver's License that won't "read" in the card reader, which means they get called in by radio and instead of a 30-secojnd delay, you have to wait twn minutes while the dispatcher stops eating, puts their cigarette out, turns off the soap operas and runs your license.
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Posted: 8/19/2004 10:17:48 AM EDT
[#29]
 that sounds EXACTLY like the local dispatcher(s)
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