Magnetic Removal of Memory

BrandonL · 11-14-2005, 09:42 PM

Is it true that if you hold a magnet to (i forget what part of the system it was... so you might have to fill in that blank)... will it remove all of the memory and everything on your system or is that just a myth?

my uncle told me that and he seems pretty knowledgable of computers.

just wanted to confirm if that's true or not...

Choice · 11-14-2005, 09:46 PM

Not sure exactly, but it definately screws with your system. DO NOT TRY AT HOME

BrandonL · 11-14-2005, 09:47 PM

lol... i didnt plan on trying it. well, maybe as a last resort if i couldnt fix any ongoing problems within my system.

Anyone know for sure?

vortmax · 11-14-2005, 09:51 PM

well a strong magnet can corrupt data on the hard drive and mess with some other stuff. It usually needs to be a strong magnet tho.

I remember when i was in high school, the lady in charge of our network kept having data corruption problems and random crashes. Since it was a Mac network, we usually wrote it off as typical Mac behavior. Then one day she lost some important file and complained to to point that we had to go fix it. When I sat down at the computer I noticed she had some pictures attached to the side of her case....with HUGE magnets. Took them off, explained to her why it was bad to do that and reformatted her drive. Worked like a charm until she started having those same problems all over again..... Guess she decided that using plastic coated magnets some how shielded the computer (since they can't scratch the case...her words not mine). I was graduating in a few weeks so I just told her I had no idea what was wrong and left.

shupola · 11-14-2005, 10:09 PM

haha, i asked my buddy at work if he knew how to format a harddrive and he said to swipe a magnet across it. lol

i saw on csi where they were gonna use this guys computer as evidence, but he had two magnets on his door, so when they took it out, it wiped the harddrive. but thats just tv, so i really dont know.

spacedude89 · 11-14-2005, 10:15 PM

haha, lmao vortmax, anyways, the hard drive records data magneticly. so if you hold a magnet near it, it will change and corrupt the data. holding a magnet near the computer will NOT fix any ongoing problems, it will corrupt your data and possibly harm your hard drive.

BrandonL · 11-15-2005, 01:35 AM

and if the hard drive is somehow corrupted by a magnet what do you do to fix it? like how do you reformat it to it's original state?

vortmax · 11-15-2005, 01:41 AM

sometimes you can't. You just have bad sectors which the OS will detect and work around. (unless they are in the boot sector...then you're screwed)

as for magnets in the door.....they would have to be hella-strong magnets, but I guess it's possible. Would have been easier to wrap it in semtex and add a tamper switch

**Praetor** · 11-17-2005, 05:43 PM

Quote:

using plastic coated magnets some how shielded the computer (since they can't scratch the case...her words not mine).

Hehe since when does plastic negate a magnetic field?

Broken_Naols · 11-17-2005, 08:38 PM

Sure! passing a hard disk over a strong magnet will erase pretty much all the data on it. A REALLY quick way of completly removing any "sensitive" data on a P.C.

As for using the disk afterwards. I'm not sure. I guess if the magnet is strong enough. it will damage clusters.

11-14-2005, 09:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
BrandonL Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: New York Age: 20 Posts: 335	Magnetic Removal of Memory Is it true that if you hold a magnet to (i forget what part of the system it was... so you might have to fill in that blank)... will it remove all of the memory and everything on your system or is that just a myth? my uncle told me that and he seems pretty knowledgable of computers. just wanted to confirm if that's true or not...

11-14-2005, 09:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
Choice Silver Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 19 Posts: 103	Not sure exactly, but it definately screws with your system. DO NOT TRY AT HOME __________________ Fogot about all these smart computer guys with their intelligent answers.... JUST USE L337 HAX!!!!!111!!!1!!1one

11-14-2005, 09:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
vortmax Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Age: 27 Posts: 619	well a strong magnet can corrupt data on the hard drive and mess with some other stuff. It usually needs to be a strong magnet tho. I remember when i was in high school, the lady in charge of our network kept having data corruption problems and random crashes. Since it was a Mac network, we usually wrote it off as typical Mac behavior. Then one day she lost some important file and complained to to point that we had to go fix it. When I sat down at the computer I noticed she had some pictures attached to the side of her case....with HUGE magnets. Took them off, explained to her why it was bad to do that and reformatted her drive. Worked like a charm until she started having those same problems all over again..... Guess she decided that using plastic coated magnets some how shielded the computer (since they can't scratch the case...her words not mine). I was graduating in a few weeks so I just told her I had no idea what was wrong and left. __________________ Asus A7N8x delux Nforce 2 AMD Athlon 2800+ (barton core) 512 meg Corsair DDR 400 Gainward G-force FX 5200 Dell 6000i Intel Pentium M 725 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB) ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 64MB HyperMemory 1 gig DDR2 PC2-3200 Music server: AMD K6 500 MHz 128 Meg RAM Onkyo HT-R520 Reciever 6.1 DTS ES & Dolby Digital EX

11-14-2005, 10:15 PM	#6 (permalink)
spacedude89 Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Oregon Age: 20 Posts: 1,420	haha, lmao vortmax, anyways, the hard drive records data magneticly. so if you hold a magnet near it, it will change and corrupt the data. holding a magnet near the computer will NOT fix any ongoing problems, it will corrupt your data and possibly harm your hard drive. __________________ Desktop: Abit AW9D-MAX ~ Core 2 Duo E6300 @ 2.4GHz ~ Radeon X1900GT Laptop: HP ~ Core Duo T2050 ~ nVidia 7600 First smiles, then lies. Last comes gunfire.

11-15-2005, 01:41 AM	#8 (permalink)
vortmax Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Age: 27 Posts: 619	sometimes you can't. You just have bad sectors which the OS will detect and work around. (unless they are in the boot sector...then you're screwed) as for magnets in the door.....they would have to be hella-strong magnets, but I guess it's possible. Would have been easier to wrap it in semtex and add a tamper switch __________________ Asus A7N8x delux Nforce 2 AMD Athlon 2800+ (barton core) 512 meg Corsair DDR 400 Gainward G-force FX 5200 Dell 6000i Intel Pentium M 725 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB) ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 64MB HyperMemory 1 gig DDR2 PC2-3200 Music server: AMD K6 500 MHz 128 Meg RAM Onkyo HT-R520 Reciever 6.1 DTS ES & Dolby Digital EX

11-14-2005, 09:47 PM	#3 (permalink)
BrandonL Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: New York Age: 20 Posts: 335	lol... i didnt plan on trying it. well, maybe as a last resort if i couldnt fix any ongoing problems within my system. Anyone know for sure?

11-14-2005, 10:09 PM	#5 (permalink)
shupola Diamond Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Nowheresville, U.S. Posts: 1,035	haha, i asked my buddy at work if he knew how to format a harddrive and he said to swipe a magnet across it. lol i saw on csi where they were gonna use this guys computer as evidence, but he had two magnets on his door, so when they took it out, it wiped the harddrive. but thats just tv, so i really dont know.

11-15-2005, 01:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
BrandonL Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: New York Age: 20 Posts: 335	and if the hard drive is somehow corrupted by a magnet what do you do to fix it? like how do you reformat it to it's original state?

11-17-2005, 08:38 PM	#10 (permalink)
Broken_Naols New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 11	Sure! passing a hard disk over a strong magnet will erase pretty much all the data on it. A REALLY quick way of completly removing any "sensitive" data on a P.C. As for using the disk afterwards. I'm not sure. I guess if the magnet is strong enough. it will damage clusters.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode