Magnets on case mess anything up?

Thomasj

New Member
I am building a pc for my kids to play childrens games on and they want to stick spongebob magnets and stuff like that to it to decorate. I am weary about sticking magnets to it cause of things like the ram and hard drive. Can this mess anything up?

Sorry if this is a dumb question :D
 

oscaryu1

VIP Member
No, as long it's not an huge one... and as long as it's not close to the TV :p

Don't put too many near the HDD for just various reasons. Same with the floppy drive & optical drives.
 

PC eye

banned
Avoiding the hard drive area and any floppies in the 3 1/2" drive not optical drives would be a concern there. Optical drives/disks wouldn't be effected unless you stuck a magnet on and near the rear of the drive's casing. Too close to a hard drive would render it useless. But that would still have to be right next to if not stuck on a drive's casing directly to effect the platters.
 

tuxify

New Member
You could just get a spongebob sticker or make a window in the shape of the character. Problem with that is it's pretty much stuck there for the life of the case.
 

The_Other_One

VIP Member
The hard drive's about the only thing that could be affected in most computers, seeing as most media isn't magnetic based anymore. If it's just a little fridge magnet or something, you should be fine, probably even with floppies around. But if you have some unshielded speaker or something, you might have some problems.
 

hpi

banned
ya as long as its not one of those super powerful earth magnets near the hdd, which spongebo magnets aren't :p
 

PC eye

banned
If they are the small dot shaped magnets no larger then a dime then they will go on the side of the case without a problem if they are up away from the 3 1/2" bays where the hard drive is located. Being right next to the drive not good despite the outer panels and chasis itself since the drive could stilll end up being within the magnetic field.

That would be the concern with any strong magnet while drives are usually in the center front of the case seeing about a 2inch clearance on either side. Front case paneld and bay covers are generally plastic ruling out worry of sticking magnets there but still some if magnets are held close by hand.
 

PC eye

banned
The only time a floppy would be effected would be seeing a disk in the drive itself or runing a magnet over it. That would wipe any data right off of it. The disk itself however would still be usable but need a fresh format. An HD on the other hand would see the entire drive itself lost since the platters have to be kept totally isolated from anything even a drop of moisture, any dust or debris.
 

dave_w

New Member
Question, and don't take this personally and get all angry with me...

...can you honestly trust your kids to keep the magnets away from the HD?

Once again, my mom taught Pre-K for years, I know what kids do. Maybe not your kids, which is why I'm posing the question.
 

Netskimmer

New Member
Not sure if they would work but you could try "static stickers" not sure what their actually called:p. People put them on windows, refrigerators ect, they cling using static electricity. Since they don't use magnatism they'd be safe and since they don't use adhesive they could be removed/repositioned easily. I guess it would depend on what the surface texture of your case is like but if they can stick to a rough frige door they would probably stick to a comp case. Just a thought.
 

PC eye

banned
Question, and don't take this personally and get all angry with me...

...can you honestly trust your kids to keep the magnets away from the HD?

Once again, my mom taught Pre-K for years, I know what kids do. Maybe not your kids, which is why I'm posing the question.

Har! A friend's 12yr. old son was just given a Dell by his aunt since she is now after a new laptop. The first day saw the side cover open! Kids will look inside "anything" they get their hands on. He was told by his dad that if he touches any inside and ruins it bye bye pc and he wouldn't see another one anytime soon! Kids are still going be "kids"!
 

dave_w

New Member
lol nice. That reminds me...think I'll make a note to secure all my computers with locking screws when I have kids.
 

PC eye

banned
I thought they had pc key type locks you could buy and install to prevent unauthorized use or tampering. With small kids getting into things being a common thing those would have a good use there.
 
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