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Put a magnet to a HDD or old floppy disk to "erase" them?

Luba

Luba

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 22, 2009
1,781
370
If I put a magnet to one of those old floppy disks or to a hard disk drive would that in effect be a secure erase?

But interesting I put a magnet on a hard disk drive platter and the magnet had no "pull" effect on it?? Perhaps the shiny silver color coating deflects the effect of magnetism??
 
GoCubsGo

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
You'll need a very powerful magnet for it to actually matter.
Why not just erase via OS X or Windows?
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
Busting the Biggest PC Myths

Magnets zap your data.
  • For venerable floppies, this statement holds true.
  • Fortunately, most modern storage devices, such as SD and CompactFlash memory cards, are immune to magnetic fields.
  • The same goes for hard drives. 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.
Want to erase data from a hard drive you plan to toss? Don't bother with a magnet. Overwrite the data that is stored on the media instead.
Click to expand...
 
CJS7070

CJS7070

macrumors 6502a
Dec 10, 2008
755
0
Chicago, IL
Keep in mind that hard drives are enclosed in faraday cages, so the magnet wouldn't have the full effect of an exposed platter... and that would destroy the drive right then and there.
 
Luba

Luba

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 22, 2009
1,781
370
I never saw a hard disk platter up close and personal, so a friend took it out. He drilled out the special screws in HDD case and took out the platter. Interestingly, inside the HDD case there was a strong magnet in there!

BTW, what is a faraday cage?

CJS7070 said:
Keep in mind that hard drives are enclosed in faraday cages, so the magnet wouldn't have the full effect of an exposed platter... and that would destroy the drive right then and there.
Click to expand...
 
Flynnstone

Flynnstone

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2003
1,438
96
Cold beer land
CJS7070 said:
Keep in mind that hard drives are enclosed in faraday cages, so the magnet wouldn't have the full effect of an exposed platter... and that would destroy the drive right then and there.
Click to expand...

Faraday Shields block electric fields NOT magnetic fields.

A strong magnetic will "disturb" a floppy, like 5 1/4"
A really strong magnetic will "disturb" a 3.5" floppy.
and even stronger for a hard drive.
I use disturb because its not necessarily erasing it.

Just erase it using OS X or ...
or use a secure erase tool.
or use a drill and hammer etc and physically destroy it.

Luba said:
I never saw a hard disk platter up close and personal, so a friend took it out. He drilled out the special screws in HDD case and took out the platter. Interestingly, inside the HDD case there was a strong magnet in there!

BTW, what is a faraday cage?
Click to expand...

I've got a couple I could post some pictures.

The strong magnetic is for the voice coil head actuator.
 
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