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iPad 2 with smart cover and MBP

T

t0mm

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2009
118
0
Nottingham, UK
Ok so earlier I had my MacBook Pro on and someone who was using my iPad and had finished with it placed it on top of my MBP. The MBP then started to make clicking noises (I guess the hard drive) I yanked it off straight away (the screen went black for a second)

Just wondering if anyone knows what damage this could do? I never thought of it myself and I have my iPad right next to my iMac and MBP isnt there some sort of warning anywhere about this?
 
t0mm said:
Ok so earlier I had my MacBook Pro on and someone who was using my iPad and had finished with it placed it on top of my MBP. The MBP then started to make clicking noises (I guess the hard drive) I yanked it off straight away (the screen went black for a second)

Just wondering if anyone knows what damage this could do? I never thought of it myself and I have my iPad right next to my iMac and MBP isnt there some sort of warning anywhere about this?
Click to expand...

Don't see how the two are connected.
So you were using the laptop... closed the lid.. then someone put the ipad on top of the laptop? How soon after you closed it did they put it on the top?
 
XXFirefighter said:
Don't see how the two are connected.
So you were using the laptop... closed the lid.. then someone put the ipad on top of the laptop? How soon after you closed it did they put it on the top?
Click to expand...

Lid wasn't closed. They said they were finished and said 'where should I put it' I just said 'over there' and they put I on the laptop.
 
To clarify, magnets and electronics do not bond together very well, that's why Apple manufactured the Smart Cover along with the iPad 2 at the same time, to get things right. This is normal, I put my iPad with it's Smart Cover next to/on top of my MacBook Air, nothing happens...
 
Legion93 said:
To clarify, magnets and electronics do not bond together very well, that's why Apple manufactured the Smart Cover along with the iPad 2 at the same time, to get things right. This is normal, I put my iPad with it's Smart Cover next to/on top of my MacBook Air, nothing happens...
Click to expand...
I know I was just asking lol
MacBook air won't be affected anyway. It uses SSD not 2.5"

I'm not moaning about shoddy designs because it's my fault just expressing what happened.
 
Legion93 said:
To clarify, magnets and electronics do not bond together very well, that's why Apple manufactured the Smart Cover along with the iPad 2 at the same time, to get things right. This is normal, I put my iPad with it's Smart Cover next to/on top of my MacBook Air, nothing happens...
Click to expand...

To clarify, 'strong' magnets and 'hard disk drives' don't mix well together. The magnets on the smart cover aren't powerful enough to effect a 2.5" HDD in your MBP. (However, the clicking noise is a possible indicator of your drive going bad. I would do a backup asap, just to be safe.)
 
Mac.World said:
To clarify, 'strong' magnets and 'hard disk drives' don't mix well together. The magnets on the smart cover aren't powerful enough to effect a 2.5" HDD in your MBP. (However, the clicking noise is a possible indicator of your drive going bad. I would do a backup asap, just to be safe.)
Click to expand...

A coincidence? I doubt it... Has anyone tested a smart cover affecting a MBP? Not just HDDs, it may even affect the logic/motherboard, anything that contains metal parts.
 
Legion93 said:
A coincidence? I doubt it... Has anyone tested a smart cover affecting a MBP? Not just HDDs, it may even affect the logic/motherboard, anything that contains metal parts.
Click to expand...

As posted elsewhere: they're just magnets. MB/MBPs use them internally for both lid closure and lid-closed detection. The HD head servo magnets are far stronger and nearer to the disk surfaces. The Smart Cover magnets aren't going to do something mysterious to other components.

Perhaps the case was causing the MBP to sleep/wake and caused the drive to stop/start? It would need to be placed on the top case just right, though (not through lid).
 
Doesn't the MBP use magnets in the same way as the iPad, to put it to sleep when the lid is closed? I'm pretty sure it does. Therefore, when you set a magnet on it, maybe it triggered that and put it to sleep...? The "clicking" was the sound of the computer going to sleep and waking up?
 
Mac.World said:
To clarify, 'strong' magnets and 'hard disk drives' don't mix well together. The magnets on the smart cover aren't powerful enough to effect a 2.5" HDD in your MBP. (However, the clicking noise is a possible indicator of your drive going bad. I would do a backup asap, just to be safe.)
Click to expand...

False, I have seen personally someone destroy a hard drive by the strength of the iPad 2 smart cover. The neodymium magnets they use have more than enough pulling force to wipe a drive. Not to mention that you wont see too many cases like the iPad 1 that has credit card pockets in a portfolio case (magnets vs credit card strips do not mix).
 
Mac.World said:
Calling B.S. on this one.
Click to expand...

+1. The effect of the magnets is noticeably weakened by the presence of a 0.5mm thick skin on an iPad. There's zero chance of causing issues with a hard drive, especially considering there are magnets literally 10,000 times stronger INSIDE THE HARD DRIVE itself.
 
Mac.World said:
To clarify, 'strong' magnets and 'hard disk drives' don't mix well together. The magnets on the smart cover aren't powerful enough to effect a 2.5" HDD in your MBP. (However, the clicking noise is a possible indicator of your drive going bad. I would do a backup asap, just to be safe.)
Click to expand...

geko29 said:
+1. The effect of the magnets is noticeably weakened by the presence of a 0.5mm thick skin on an iPad. There's zero chance of causing issues with a hard drive, especially considering there are magnets literally 10,000 times stronger INSIDE THE HARD DRIVE itself.
Click to expand...

So do you think my hard drive could be going bad and it was just a coincidence that it was clicking at the time?

Do you think I should ring apple and explain it to them? (maybe witholding the smart cover info? or should I let them know that too?)
 
Exactly the something happened to me. Put down my iPad and smart cover on top of MacBook pro keyboard for a second and noticed the screen go black.

I'm assuming that the magnets in the MacBook pro for closing the lid where activated and it put it to sleep although at the time i was worried about damage to the HDD from the magnets.
 
i put my iphone on the pam rest of my macbook pro and the screen turned off. I took the phone off and it went back to normal.

No issues yet and this was 5 months ago
 
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