Magnets?

[.alchinko.]

ok i was wondering what would magnets do to your computer. im thinken about putting a door in the fornt of my case and having it stay closed my magnets.... would that mess anything up... im think'n might screw up HDD

[Omega]

if they are very small and weak, it will be fine. Keep the HD's away from them, though.

My CM Cavalier has magnets that can actually hold the door on if the hinge goes missing, but my HD's are fine (The magnets also arent too powerful).


But if you're worried, just use something else.

[AKA_RA]

i wouldnt be worried about any magnets messing up your hard drive unless theyre intended for industrial use. consider that fact that harddrives actually have magnets in them already. i highly doubt a little magnet holding your door closed will cause any sort of data loss. just dont stick it to your hard drive for an extended period of time ;)

[.alchinko.]

aight thnaks for the info.

[Cool1Net6]

Magnet against hard drive = bad.
Magnet against spinning hard drive = worse.

Are rare earth magnets fine, like the ones used inside hard drives? And how close is a safe distance?

-Cool-

[Aero]

magnetic fields decrease exponentially with distance. So anything more than a few inches should be fine for all but large magnets. Rare earth magnets should be fine, but I would keep them atleast an inch away while the HDD is running. For a static HDD any distance should be fine. My rare earth magnets used to get stuck to my old Archos MP3 player all the time and I never had one problem with data loss.

[CanaBalistic]

The magnets inside the hard drive are very powerful. I couldnt see anything happening if you stuck a weak fridge type magnet right on it.

[rusty shackleford]

just use velcro its black and prolly wont stick out apply it to the inside of the door and the corresponding place on the case id say put it in four places but that might be overkil one a 2/3 and another at 1/3 the way down the side on the non hinge side and another 1 and the middle of the top and the bottom might be a little hard to get open though

[.alchinko.]

yeah thats what i was thinking but then it wouldnt close all te way.. it would stick out a little bit.

[.Maleficus.]

What about magnets on a moniter? Doesn't that screw something up?

[.alchinko.]

yes it does. but if it does there is a button that you can hit to de-magnetize your screen.

[Omega]

yes it does. but if it does there is a button that you can hit to de-magnetize your screen.


False. The button is Degaussing, which does not fix magnet problems.

I did that to my old CRT, but fixed it by strategically moving the magnet around until the CRT was fine agian.

[.alchinko.]

o ok thank you for the correction.

[Cool1Net6]

just use velcro ...
Velcro isnt clean. It detracts from the smooth, professional appearance, and looks more like a quick-fix than a permanent solution IMO.

-Cool-

[DaveW]

IEEE!!! MAGNETS! XMASTREE, SAVE ME!

lol. Childish moment aside, magnet's won't do anything. Look up the reed switches thread with the search tool for more information.

-Dave

[EPYK]

if you really wanted to go the safe route on this, go with the non-magnet alternative....
http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/800351/800351662274md.jpg
about a dollar at your local hardware shop

[Airbozo]

False. The button is Degaussing, which does not fix magnet problems.

I did that to my old CRT, but fixed it by strategically moving the magnet around until the CRT was fine agian.

Degaussing = de-magnetizing. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/degauss.html

Well... Seeing as I have been fixing crt's for about 30 years, I should chime in. (damn, gave away my age...)

Most if not all modern crt monitors have coils of wire wrapped around the crt to Degauss the screen upon pressing the power button. This effectively re-aligns the magnetic particles in the crt (I could get all technobabble on ya all but that would hurt my brain). So it IS de-magnetizing the screen. This will fix _most_ magnet related problems. For those it does not fix, you will need an external degausser (available at most electronic supply stores for about $35. All it really is, is just a coil of wire you plug into the wall, turn it on and with the coil flat against the montior, move it in a circle while backing away from the screen. once you are far enough away from the screen where you no longer see the effects of the coil, turn it perpendicular and shut it off. This procedure has fixed 99% of the crt's that i have had problems with. (including $60k projectors)

BTW I have made a lot of $$ just degaussing monitors when people put regular speakers next to their monitor. $35 service call $25 for fixing the problem.

EDIT: another btw: there are magnets around the neck of the crt to align the electron beams. you can get some pretty wierd effects by dorking with them (warning, don't try this at home or I will have to charge you for a service call)

[b4i7]

EDIT: another btw: there are magnets around the neck of the crt to align the electron beams. you can get some pretty wierd effects by dorking with them (warning, don't try this at home or I will have to charge you for a service call)


haha...that was the best part...the warning

[meticoeus]

If the magnets are week enough they won't do anything to an lcd or crt monitor (i've tested this numerous times :p) and ones I have are as strong or stronger than typical fridge magnets.

There is also a really cheap way of making your own degausser that invovled a drill but I can't remember the details atm. It was Screen Savers a while back if anyone remembers the show.

[dgrmkrp]

has any one of you tried playing with a 10" magnet, like 4 pounds (~2kg)? the effect on a crt is spectacular :p i can bend/discolor the image from 5 feet away :) and if i use the speaker with double stacked magnets, i can mess with 3 or 4 screens at a time =))

getting serious, i've never seen a hard drive magnetically-challanged :) me and my room mates fooled around with different magnets and pieces of hardware.. what can happen with magnets is to induce an electric signal, if you move a magnet around really fast... a big magnet (like from a PA speaker..) and someone with too much time and energy could probably mess around with your mobo, but still... it will never corrupt data on a hdd :) or burn anything.. to cause enough EMI this way you need lots of brute force ;)
oh, if the degausing doesn't work (or there isn't such a function, like in older crts), i use the really old soldering gun i got:) it has large coils inside and is tuned to be in anti-phase when working.. so you get the same result like with the thing airbozo uses :)

[Maz]

try this, take a magnet in your hand and slowly move it towards the screen. youll notice the screen changes colors. if you get too close with it youll make the color change stay for a long time. like a few weeks.

if you are absolutally worried about your hard drives, just glue a ferrite to the back of the magnet.

ferrites absorb magnetic fields.

or just put a peice of iron or steel between them and the magnets. it condenses the magnetic field and as long as it does not saturate, the iron will keep the fiel from reaching the hdds and make the field on the other side strong. this is called adding external iron.

[Razors Edge]

Yes, My older brother has accually had a job in the Western Digital offices in white plains. He accually disassembled the hardrive to take the magnets, from the defective hardrives.

Basicley, the magnets found in a hardrive, are the strongest. I recomend taking apart an old crappy non-working hardrive with a allen-tool, and spectating how powerfull the magnets are. If you are going to use magnets that strong, keep them aobut 5 or 6 inches away. If you are using a normal fridge magnet, You can stick them ON the hardrive and they wont do anything.

[mikeroq]

False. The button is Degaussing, which does not fix magnet problems.

I did that to my old CRT, but fixed it by strategically moving the magnet around until the CRT was fine agian.

I held a hard drive magnet to my CRT, and by degaussing 4 times, the CRT was fine again. See in cause you dont know, degaussing is a process to remove an unwanted magnetic field, thus by doing it a few times it would eventully remove the discoloration.

And about the hard drives, it takes some powerful magnets to even effect a hard drive.

[Maz]

yes in fact i do know.

i was alluding to any crt.

and i did not know if everybody who reads this would have the degauss option. old crts do not degauss.

dont assume anything

[mikeroq]

My CRT is from 1998, thats pretty old, if you have one older, then that is pretty bad.

[EPYK]

i have a dell from 92 it wont work with xp

[Maz]

im running windows 3.x on an old dinosaur of mine
diskettes and dos BABY!!!

[MitaPi]

yes it does. but if it does there is a button that you can hit to de-magnetize your screen.


Yea what omega said is right.. BUT there is a device that you can buy that does demagnatize your screen. Lol it will just rune you about 200 bucks for a good one. I helped out alot in my high school and we used those alot for the computers. They work very very well too! They remind me of a picture frame with a handle attached to it.