| You love your new laptop and you probably a good | | | | To understand why you don't want powerful magnets |
| amount of money to get what you wanted. Certainly, | | | | near your HDD, let's look at how data is stored on the |
| you want to know how to protect your data at all | | | | drive. A hard disk drive stores data (in binary digits; a |
| costs. Perhaps you have heard that computers and | | | | series of 1s and 0s) by altering the orientation of the |
| magnets don't mix. | | | | atoms of a ferromagnetic component. It uses a small |
| It all boils down to the strength of the magnetic force | | | | magnet to accomplish this. So, if a powerful magnetic |
| acting on your hard disk drive (HDD). In fact, modern | | | | force, especially those from an electromagnet, come in |
| hard disk drives have magnets as a vital component. | | | | close enough to the hard drive, it will undeniably mess |
| But, if we talk about powerful magnets, such as those | | | | with the orientation of the atoms inside your drive, thus |
| that you can find in airport metal detectors or in | | | | destroying the data in it beyond recovery. Strong |
| science labs, it's best to keep a good distance | | | | magnets may also cause physical damage to the |
| between them and your computer. Even a big bare | | | | hardware itself. |
| speaker magnet is known to wipe out data in old HDD | | | | To be safe, don't pass your laptop in metal detectors. |
| models beyond recovery; or it could at least corrupt | | | | You can, however, submit your laptop to X-ray scans, |
| some sectors of it. | | | | they will not harm your computer or its hard drive. |