Potential magnet damage to laptop HDD

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
Sign up Log in
3 replies · 6K views
cobalt124
Messages
60
Reaction score
32
My specific question is can the magnets in an Ashton BA15 40W bass amp damage the HDD in a laptop (we have a Samsung about a year and a quarter old and an Acer about a year old). I've read the following threads:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=411895&highlight=magnet
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=112183&highlight=magnet

so I'm sure the only possible damage would be to the HDD, which I'm fairly certain would be safe, but not quite certain enough. Can anybody raise my certainty levels?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Modern speakers intended for use with computers are magnetically sheilded so they are safe (provided you read and follow the instructions!)

With older speaker systems, it's a toss-up. On the one hand they were usually not sheilded, but on the other hand they tended to have weaker magnets.

cobalt124 said:
so I'm sure the only possible damage would be to the HDD, which I'm fairly certain would be safe, but not quite certain enough. Can anybody raise my certainty levels?

That's not a very sensible question IMO. Your "personal confidence level" has absolutely nothing to do with whether the laptop will be damaged or not!

The only possible answer is "well, it might be damaged"...
 
If you are just looking to sit a laptop on top of a speaker then I think you'll be fine. It might be worth just getting a piece of iron and seeing just how much of a magnetic field there is in the area you are going to put the laptop. It is also worth pointing out that hard drives have strong magnets in them. Modern hard drives are pretty resilient to magnetic fields and it would take a pretty strong field to cause data loss. The strip on a credit card is much more sensitive than a hard drive. Anywhere your wallet survives without wiping the credit cards is going to be safe for a laptop.
 
Thanks for the responses!

AlephZero said:
Modern speakers intended for use with computers are magnetically sheilded so they are safe (provided you read and follow the instructions!)

The speakers are about four years old, and we have lost the instructions.

AlephZero said:
That's not a very sensible question IMO. Your "personal confidence level" has absolutely nothing to do with whether the laptop will be damaged or not!

The only possible answer is "well, it might be damaged"...

...and so you don't put the laptop anywhere near the speakers! Yep, I see your point. And if it were my speaker and amp that is what I would be doing. Problem solved. However, this isn't an option which is why I'm asking.

DaleSwanson said:
If you are just looking to sit a laptop on top of a speaker then I think you'll be fine. It might be worth just getting a piece of iron and seeing just how much of a magnetic field there is in the area you are going to put the laptop. It is also worth pointing out that hard drives have strong magnets in them. Modern hard drives are pretty resilient to magnetic fields and it would take a pretty strong field to cause data loss. The strip on a credit card is much more sensitive than a hard drive. Anywhere your wallet survives without wiping the credit cards is going to be safe for a laptop.

I'm now more confident that it's OK, but personally I still wouldn't do it.