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Solve : Magnets to hard drives?

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I have a friend who had talen a magnet to one of his HDD's. I am wondering if the HARD drive is still usable, not just the data, but the entire hard drive, does the magnet cause damage to the actual read-write HEAD or any of the sort?

Thankshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSJ0IlFhTioThat is a very good question. Everyone says that a magnet can damage a hard drive, but they never say if it just erases the data or actually busts the drive. My guess is it just corrupts the data, but the drive will still work.

EDIT: from the vid it looks like it broken.Quote from: Linux711 on January 31, 2012, 12:48:44 PM

Everyone says that a magnet can damage a hard drive

It's a myth. The only magnets powerful enough to scrub data from a drive platter are laboratory degaussers or those used by government agencies to wipe bits off media. In every disk there's one HECK of a powerful magnet only millimetres AWAY from the platters. That's the one in the actuator motor.
They are known as rare earth magnets...and no common magnet even comes close to disrupting HDD info...
However why even risk it ? ?

PS you've come up with some wierd queries...Commercial level degaussers are found at most TV and radio stations and are used to clean magnetic tape. They are substantial magnetic units powered by an AC connection. They can wipe a hard drive, but they can also cause permanent damage to hard drives.

The magnet THING goes back to floppy disks where a magnet could sometimes do damage to a floppy.


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