Where to put external harddiscs ? / avoiding deletion by magnetic fields ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thomas Jerkins
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Thomas Jerkins

I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
 
Thomas Jerkins said:
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external
harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the
contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser
printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
Click to expand...
Personally I wouldn't rely on a HDD (any sort) as a backup medium because
what happens if you drop it? (and accidents do happen). Also if the drive is
keep static for a long time (don't ask me to quantify that), there's a
chance the motor wont start up again. Things such as tapes and DVD RW media
are the best way to go. If you must go with a HDD the safest bet would be to
put it in a drawer somewhere well clear (at least a foot or two) of all or
the above. Precisely how close you could put it will depend on the
individual machine characteristics - how close did you intend to put it -
and close to which of the items listed? Do you not have drawers that aren't
near any of these things?

Paul
 
Thomas said:
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
Click to expand...
Put is someplace dry and cool and where it is safe from being knocked
about. I would worry very little about external magnetic fields unless I
was intending to place it inside an operating MRI machine or degaussing
device. The fields emitted by normal household or office equipment are
weak enough that the field that actually penetrates to the inside of a
drive is not enough to make any difference. If you don't believe me,
find a dead drive and disassemble it -- inside you will find some of the
strongest permanent magnets that you are likely to come across. If these
magnets do no harm to the data being literally inside the drive the weak
field from an external source isn't likely to matter.
 
Thomas said:
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?
Click to expand...

Don't put it on top of:

1) A television

2) A video/audio tape recorder

3) A Van de Graaf generator
http://www.amasci.com/emotor/vdg.html

Also, don't stick it to the fridge with magnets.
 
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
Click to expand...

Besides the best place on top of a unshielded massive subwoofer I
guess any obvious place thats cool , vibration free and not close to
any magnetic field sources - I would think.
 
Thomas said:
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
Click to expand...
Ther is no problem with putting your harddisk on a monitor. The external
magnetic field requueh , requ.. NEEDED ;) has to be so great that all
metal parts in 1 square meter will be atracted. The harddisk is a cage
of faraday (spelling) and thus not affected by signals and magnetic
fields from the outside.

Although putting it on a monitor has the risk of falling. Put the disk
where you can find it, dry, private and with no risk of falling.


Chris
 
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
Click to expand...


Fields fall off very fast. A few inches away is probably OK from
anything but an MRI machine.
If you think about it you are writing on one side of a diskette and
not bothering the data on the other side. Certainly if you put this
disk back in the padded shipping box it should be invulnerable.
 
Thomas said:
I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom
Click to expand...

hello, i'm no expert, but have always been told tvs, radios, or
anything else that has a magnet in it could erase a disk. and that
also could include power supplies and transformers that has or
produces a such field. as for safe distance maybe aleast a couple
feet or more. John P.
 
Put is someplace dry and cool and where it is safe from being knocked
about. I would worry very little about external magnetic fields unless I
was intending to place it inside an operating MRI machine or degaussing
device. The fields emitted by normal household or office equipment are
weak enough that the field that actually penetrates to the inside of a
drive is not enough to make any difference. If you don't believe me,
find a dead drive and disassemble it -- inside you will find some of the
strongest permanent magnets that you are likely to come across. If these
magnets do no harm to the data being literally inside the drive the weak
field from an external source isn't likely to matter.
Click to expand...


Agreed. If you look at the specs for the strenght of the field
necessary to write on a modern disk (gauss-oerstads is une unit of
measure) you'd find it's thousands of times stronger than the earth's
magnetic field and is you walked by a a device that made such a field
it would pull your belt buckle, watchband or anything else made of a
magnetic material. Iron objects in the vicinity become flying hazards
when a magnet this powerfull is energized. The only magnets outsine
laboratories anywhere near powerfull enough to affect a disk drive are
MRI machines. See the third page here, for hazards;
http://www.mbi.ufl.edu/facilities/amris/safety.pdf


The disk drive has an electromagnet that's as powerfull as an MRI
machine. The reason you don't notice is that it's litterally
microscopic and the field is effective over distances measured in
millions of an inch before it falls off.
 
In a fireproof safe!

Nowhere else!
Click to expand...


Actually if it's important you need two verified backups, one carried
offsite. That's more important than a safe, from a data recovery
standpoint. If privacy is an issue you can turn NTFS encryption on
(and make multiple copies of the crypto keys and keep them in a couple
offsite locations.)

sh*t happens.

read http://taobackup.com/
 
John said:
Thomas Jerkins wrote:-

I have an external USB hard disc with a lot of backup files on it.
Where should I put (or better: where should I NOT put) this external
harddisc in order
be safe to not accidential delete the contents?

I could imagine that e.g putting it on top of a monitor would delete
the contents because
of the magnetic field of the monitor.

What about TVs or magnetic transformator for halogen lamps or laser
printers?

What distance from these devices is safe?

Tom-

hello, i'm no expert, but have always been told tvs, radios, or
anything else that has a magnet in it could erase a disk. and that
also could include power supplies and transformers that has or
produces a such field. as for safe distance maybe aleast a couple
feet or more. John P.
Click to expand...

You folks didn't tell him about magnetic fields from solar flares on
the sun!
Treeman
 
Dont be paronoid, apart from putting it on top of something where it could
fall off. Just keep it on you desk, if allways connected, otherwise in a
draw.
 
HDDs are reasonably well shielded, if you think about the one(s) inside your
PC, it's surrounded by transformers, power leads etc.
As long as you are sensible, and don't put it right on top of the monitor or
right next to a large pair of speakers or transformer you should be fine.
Even if you did, you would probably be ok, but it doesn't do to tempt
fate...
 
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