Would storing 3 HDD drives close to each other cause any damage to them or the data?

Danee · Apr 1, 2014

I stored three hard drives; 2 internal desktop drives, and one external all stuck to each other, each of them wrapped in a plastic bag and all of them together in another bag in my other far away appartement for almost a year now.
I came by topics online about how magnetic fields and magnets could cause damage to hard drives or the data (which is more important), if placed close enough.
But I was terrified when I noticed that hard drives themselves have very powerfull magnets contained within.

I was wondering would this placement of the drives potentially cause any risk on the drives or the data inside??

Spectre694 · Apr 1, 2014

Danee :

No the magnets that are in the drives are shielded to prevent that exact sort of thing.

molletts · Apr 1, 2014

They'll be fine. Hard drives are designed not to "leak" magnetic fields from their internal magnets. They can operate and be stored in close proximity to each other - the only potential cause for concern when they're operating is the heat they can generate but when they're stored, this is obviously not an issue.

As long as the bags the individual drives are wrapped in are anti-static, there should be nothing to worry about, except perhaps the drives "sticking" through not being used for a long period. This is very rare, though, especially in modern drives, and normally only affects drives that have been running continuously for a very long period (in a server, for example) and are then stopped. The only desktop drives I've ever had this problem with were one particular batch of Samsung drives about 10 years ago - when the school I worked in re-opened after the 6-week summer break, I had to take several of the drives out of the PCs and whack them "rotationally" edge-wise on the desk to free the spindles...

Hope this helps,
Stephen

Danee · Apr 1, 2014

molletts :

Thank you very much. I'm now much more assured. I would like to be clear about a few points before moving on however;
If they were designed not to leak magnetic fields, how could they receive damage from an external source, do all hard drives live up to this standard, or some models don't? I would be very gratefull if you'd explain the mechanism involved or provide a link in containing the magnetic fields.

Would normal bags (which is the case) aid the magnets in doing damage or it's about static electricity. And what kind of damage could they do on the drives? Is there a practice one would do, in order to prevent any static damage before operating the drive?

Thank you very much for your help,
Dany

Spectre694 · Apr 1, 2014

Danee :

For magnet shielding: Magnets are shielded by placing a ferrous material of sufficient size between the magnet and the item being shielded. The ferrous material "absorbs" (disrupts) the magnetic field. So in the drive they simply have a piece of steel/iron between the magnet and the platters. Damage from external magnets comes from magnets that are strong enough to "penetrate" the ferrous shield around the platters (HDD chassis). Since the drives are so small the shielding from external sources must be limited as it is directly related to the thickness of the shield.

The bags are for static protection only and normal handling procedures for the drives: just ground yourself out.

Danee · Apr 1, 2014

Spectre694 :

Danee :

For magnet shielding: Magnets are shielded by placing a ferrous material of sufficient size between the magnet and the item being shielded. The ferrous material "absorbs" (disrupts) the magnetic field. So in the drive they simply have a piece of steel/iron between the magnet and the platters. Damage from external magnets comes from magnets that are strong enough to "penetrate" the ferrous shield around the platters (HDD chassis). Since the drives are so small the shielding from external sources must be limited as it is directly related to the thickness of the shield.

The bags are for static protection only and normal handling procedures for the drives: just ground yourself out.

Thanks alot for sharing this information.
Finally, is that a standard for all HDD drive models, or some drives come lacking this feature?

Spectre694 · Apr 1, 2014

Danee :

Spectre694 :

Danee :

For magnet shielding: Magnets are shielded by placing a ferrous material of sufficient size between the magnet and the item being shielded. The ferrous material "absorbs" (disrupts) the magnetic field. So in the drive they simply have a piece of steel/iron between the magnet and the platters. Damage from external magnets comes from magnets that are strong enough to "penetrate" the ferrous shield around the platters (HDD chassis). Since the drives are so small the shielding from external sources must be limited as it is directly related to the thickness of the shield.

The bags are for static protection only and normal handling procedures for the drives: just ground yourself out.

Thanks alot for sharing this information. Finally, is that a standard for all HDD drive models, or some drives come lacking this feature?

Shielding from the internal magnets is a must or else the drive wouldn't work (magnet would constantly wipe the platters) from the outside isn't necessary but AFAIK all drives have at least some.

Search

Would storing 3 HDD drives close to each other cause any damage to them or the data?

Danee

Reputable

Spectre694

Spectre694

Dignified

molletts

Distinguished

Danee

Reputable

Spectre694

Dignified

Danee

Reputable

Spectre694

Dignified

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page