How Powerful Of A Magnet...

[Milkshake86]

The chances of you having a strong enough magnet to do harm to your HDD is very low. I have had my pc sit infront of behind and even ontop of speakers, which have insanely powerful magnets inside them. The magnetic field is not anywhere near as large as people think and lose's power as it passes through items, i.e cas, hdd housing and all the other stuff possibly in the way. Now I wouldnt rub a magnet up and down any part inside your pc. Direct contact is another story, but in regards to how power you'd need to do damage from a distance, well they would likely be able to remove limbs if you have metal in your house.

@flawless

Speakers were in CRT's magnets have to be in certain areas to distort the image top middle back and directly beneath sides will not do it unless you had extremely cheap speakers and or monitors.

[FlawlessSoul]

The chances of you having a strong enough magnet to do harm to your HDD is very low. I have had my pc sit infront of behind and even ontop of speakers, which have insanely powerful magnets inside them. The magnetic field is not anywhere near as large as people think and lose's power as it passes through items, i.e cas, hdd housing and all the other stuff possibly in the way. Now I wouldnt rub a magnet up and down any part inside your pc. Direct contact is another story, but in regards to how power you'd need to do damage from a distance, well they would likely be able to remove limbs if you have metal in your house.

@flawless

Speakers were in CRT's magnets have to be in certain areas to distort the image top middle back and directly beneath sides will not do it unless you had extremely cheap speakers and or monitors.

Speakers attached to monitors were shielded to prevent them interfering with the monitors to a harmful degree. The magnets in desk fans are not.

There certainly are places on CRTs that magnets are "safe", but it heavily depends on the magnets strength and the time it is left there. A RE magnet anywhere near it will generally warp the picture. A fridge magnet near the rear of the tube can knock it out of alignment after a couple of months (had someone with a kid put a couple on the back of the monitor, since it wasn't backed up against a wall, and the monitor kept going blurry every few weeks. Removed them, no more problems).

[Deleted]

Am i the only one who thought this was a troll thread? (Magnets... how do they work?)

OT: i wouldnt place a magnet anywhere near my computer, its not worth the risk :>

[Freezymcgee]

considering my NZXT guardian has a large strip magnet that keeps the front door closed that is like 2 inches from the HDD
id say your fine,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146070

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

You would likely need a normal magnet (one that you might expect to find around a house) to actually come in physical contact with the read head or the hard drive platters to actually do any damage, but like others have said, don't try it just in case. That said, pretty much anything coming in physical contact with the read head or the platters would probably irreparably damage the drive.

[Milkshake86]

A mid-large woofer or subwoofer can severely damage your HDD if they are too close, now would be vibration damage or magnetic damage thats a crapshoot.