What do magnets do to hard drives

More modern electronics have been built to withstand daily exposure to the magnetic fields all around us, making devices like hard drives and smartphones.

Not only that, but your average magnet, or even a relatively strong one would not destroy the data on your hard drives. The folks at Digital Trends conducted an experiment and placed heavy — duty magnets on either side of a running hard drive, then tried to access the data. They found all the data intact, and no damage had been done. Using basic forensic scraping software, the students were able to recover over 5, credit card numbers, medical records and bank statements from formatted hard drives.

Generally, there are 3 ways a business will deal with old hard drives. The first 2 options are the most popular, and present the biggest security risk:.

Both of these options leave you and your business open to identify theft, fraud and other security threats. But of course, there is secret number 3 — have your hard drive s data securely erased by a company specialising in secure data destruction.

Of course nowadays we are all carrying around a hard drive in our pockets. Another study conducted by BT showed that a staggering amount of company data could be retrieved from phones. In total smartphones bought via online auction, BT was able to recover sensitive company information such as salary details, financial company data and personal medical details.

Treat them as if they were a standard hard drive, because they could do just as much damage to your business. The lesson here is that the only way to be sure your data has been wiped completely during the IT recycling process is to use tested and certified data erasure services. However, most round cables are shielded against magnetic interference. Of course, if you are still using floppy drives, perhaps you have bigger issues to worry about than magnets.

Fact or Fiction: Do magnets interfere with our electronics? Added to your cart:. Cart subtotal. Helena St. Lucia St. Martin St. Shipping Methods. A fridge magnet won't damage your computer by erasing its hard drive. It's a process that is far more involved than that, and one best done by a professional.

When you bring your computer to be recycled, professionals take concrete steps to ensure that the process gets done correctly. Strong, powerful magnets are a very successful tool in erasing data off of hard drives. If you haven't yet come up with a solution that allows you to restore your computers to their original factory settings without the fear of sensitive data remaining on them, it's time to consider doing so.

You don't need to give up your electronics entirely if you decide to start a new company or endeavor. You can make the computers useful once again by doing a hard drive wipe with a company like West Coast Computer Recycler that is capable of offering such a service. Look for a company with data destruction certification before trusting its employees with your hard drives.

It's yet another way of building trust by ensuring that a professional handle your personal property in a responsible manner. Certified personnel who are authorized to demagnetize the magnetic tape contained within electronic devices handle the job for you. Don't think that you can do the process yourself by merely placing a magnet on or near your hard drive. The data contained on it will remain unless erased permanently by a company who know what they are doing.

You're putting your company and customers in jeopardy by discarding old electronics before wiping them clean of sensitive personal information. Mon - Fri: 9am - 5pm. Blog Contact. Top Data Protection and Privacy Challenges. What is a Certificate of Data Destruction? Biggest Challenges for IT Managers.

Declutter Your Home Office. The Best Firewalls for Remote Workers. Networking Apps for Remote Workers. Secure Hard Drive Disposal. Small Business Personal Asset Protection. Electronic Waste Disposal for Businesses. Where to Recycle a TV. Recycling Old Chargers and Cables.

Some Safe Computer Disposal Procedures. Where To Recycle Electronics. Cell Phone Recycling Procedures.