Quote:
Originally Posted by Deskisamess
Every time someone asks about them, there is a chorus of warnings about them messing up computerized machines. Which of course they won't. But there is no convincing some folks.
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Of course, the thing is that they *did*, and people assume that since computers these days are much smaller and pack more stuff in more tightly, that they are more vulnerable to magnetic fields than they were. But this is not true: they are *less* vulnerable.
The actual electronics can still be affected (though it takes pretty damn strong fields, as in nearby lightning strike or major power surge, and that would take out both old and new machines) -- but spinning-rust data storage these days uses much smaller magnetic domains than it used to, which means the material needs to be much less easily magnetizable, needing a much stronger magnet to do the job. This means external fields need to be impractically strong to affect it (and some modern disks these days use materials that don't allow remagnetization at all, even by the drive head, unless the drive surface is heated, usually with a laser, or blasted with microwaves). Fridge magnets won't hurt hard disks even if applied directly to the disk surface, let alone the outer casing of the drive: or, rather, only the dust and debris deposited would hurt it. It's far too weak a magnet to affect the actual data stored. Probably even crane electromagnets wouldn't hurt it (except that if you are in the habit of getting your hard drives near active crane electromagnets you should probably re-examine your life choices). Hard drive heads are *really* strong electromagnets.