Magnetic Cases?

[B3anstar]

Hi just ordered an ipod 160gb after my trusty zen xtra 60gb just couldn't store anymore

Anyway, looking at the crumpler "Big Little Thing" cases i noticed they have magnets to hold the front flap down. I also see that other cases use this method.

Now i always thought that HDD + magnet = dead/damaged HDD, but surely they wouldn't make cases if this true.

So any long term users or smart people that can explain and disperse this myth?

 

[Autopilot]

True, magnets can harm (usually not permanent, just data corruption) HDD's and Flash storage. But i would like to think a well respected make like Crumpler would know what they are doing and tested it well - they are after all in the iPod protection business.

 

[B3anstar]

I would have thought too. There must be people out there who've been using these king of cases for awhile and what effect (if any) they had. Crumpler do make top gear too

 

[spl23]

I've been worried about this since buying a case for my Treo that has a strong magnet holding the flap shut - my iPod tends to get held quite close to this when I'm carrying it, and I was concerned.

However, a quick Google found this:

'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. "In the real world, people are not losing data from magnets," says Bill Rudock, a tech-support engineer with hard-drive maker Seagate. "In every disk," notes Rudock, "there's one heck of a magnet that swings the head."'

If Seagate say it's ok, I guess it must be. Logically, the metal casing around a hard drive will shield it from most stray magnetic fields.

 

[Autopilot]

That not strictly true, i have see first hand what a large speaker driver magnet can do.

 

[B3anstar]

nice find.

 

[B3anstar]

That not strictly true, i have see first hand what a large speaker driver magnet can do.

what. to a HDD?

 

[stevos]

It would require a serious magnet to damage a hardisk enclosed within a ipod. Don't forget that ac power creates a electro magnet, and there is a rather large coil in your pc's PSU.

Putting a magnet directly onto a harddisk platter is going to do damage, but between the platter and the magnet will be the ipod, the hdd casing and foam protection etc inside the hdd.

 

[shirleywhite]

The Sony leather case for the nwa-800 series flash players has a tiny magnet to hold the front flap closed............so I guess not a major problem.

 

[eyeballKid]

My Sony NWA3000 has been living in a leather-with-magnet case for a year and the hard drive is still happy enough... assume the iPods can survive similar cases... wouldn't worry.

 

[B3anstar]

ideal. sounds like no worries. time to order then

many thanks peeps