Magnets and digital gear

[TassieBogan]

So my boss keeps insisting that all the digital gear in out inventory needs to be kept well away from the speakers, especially sub woofers, when packing a truck and being put away in the warehouse as the magnets may corrupt data on flash drives in the equipment - particularly the digital consoles - PM5D and Digidesign Profile.

My own research tells me that this would only be the case if those items had PC style hard drives with the magnetic platters, and even then they are quite well magnetically shielded, and have no effect whatsoever on the solid state disks in modern gear.

So what's the truth of the matter?

 

[techieman33]

You could rub a hard drive all over one of those magnets to your hearts content and no damage will occur, well unless you do it so long that you wear through the drives case . The only magnets strong enough to damage a hard drive are specially built to do just that, nothing in your shop will be anywhere near powerful enough. The only thing you need to worry about protecting from those magnets are floppy disks if you still use those for anything.

 

[Lambda]

The only thing you need to worry about protecting from those magnets are floppy disks if you still use those for anything.

Quoted for truth. You'll find it difficult to damage a hard drive with a magnet. In fact, two of the strongest magnets you'll ever see are inside your hard drive as part of the mechanism that swings the head over the platters.

 

[Nelson]

Agreed. I've tried wiping hard drives with magnets and it doesn't work. Only thing that might come close is my audio tape degausser. And you're right, hard drives actually contain two very strong magnets INSIDE them!

As for flash -- its not magnetic based, so magnetism won't affect it.

 

[65535]

Now if you had a way to cause a large change in the magnetic flux that the gear was exposed to then MAYBE you could cause an induced current large enough to fry something.

Creating a change in flux that large with magnets that weak at such great distances would be a hell of a feat.

I remember when I was younger and rubbed the strongest magnet I could find all over my iPhone when it was cool to own one and watch people gasp was fun. (With a strong enough magnet you can lift your iPhone by the SIM tray in older phones.) It's also fun to find the magnetic closure switch on some laptops.

 

[chausman]

I remember when I was younger and rubbed the strongest magnet I could find all over my iPhone when it was cool to own one and watch people gasp was fun. (With a strong enough magnet you can lift your iPhone by the SIM tray in older phones.) It's also fun to find the magnetic closure switch on some laptops.

By backpack has magnets to keep part of it closed, and if I set my iPad on it in the right spot, it will lock the iPad screen as if I had used the smart cover.

Most magnets won't affect flash memory so it is somewhat irrelevant.

 

[n1ist]

I believe the iPad uses magnetic sensors for the lock function.
/mike

 

[techieman33]

Most magnets won't affect flash memory so it is somewhat irrelevant.

No magnet will effect flash memory, it's not magnetic based.