Can A Regular Magnet Destroy A HD?

Can A Regular Magnet Destroy A HD?

A magnet has the capability of damaging a hard disk completely and making it un usable. However it is only possible to cause high damage if it has high magnetic fields that has a pull force of approximately 450 lbs and above. I am also certain that is not the magnet your niece was playing with as she would have injured herself. A pull force of 450 lbs with a finger clumped between the magnet and the hard disk the force would hit hard and causing loss of hand. From that you need not to worry about any damage on your hard disk by the magnet.

Can A Regular Magnet Destroy A HD?

No, a normal magnet like fridge magnets is not capable of damaging the internal circuitry of a computer nor the hard drive. Though it is possible for a hard drive to get damaged with a magnet, it would take a very, very powerful magnet to do any damage. Any kind of magnet that your kid may be playing with will not be large enough to do any damage.

The myth that hard drives can be damaged with the use of magnets was popularized by movies where criminals or hackers would quickly delete the contents of their hard drives with a few sweeps of a powerful magnet. Unfortunately, it is nearly not possible to do it with a regular magnet, no matter how big they are.

Actually, every hard drive contains two powerful neodymium-iron-boron magnets which control the movements of the read/write heads. Still, the data on the platters remain unaffected. It will take a very, very powerful magnet to affect the data inside the hard drive.