Are there magnets in hard drives

The surface of the disk is coated with magnetic material that consists of billions or even trillions of tiny magnets.

Computer circuit components are able to store data in terms of whether current is present or not, represented by a 0 or 1. The north and south poles of the tiny neo magnets on the surface of hard disk drives can represent either 0s and 1s, making them perfect for computer data storage. An electromagnetic head is used to store data into these cells since an electromagnet can reverse its own polarity by reversing the direction of current flowing through it—enabling it to rearrange the polls of the tiny hard disk drive magnets.

The same head can also read the data stored on the hard disk drive. Some headphones, voice coil motor and earbuds, too. Cooling Fans A motor is a necessary part of an electrical fan, and all motors contain magnets since they use magnetism and electricity to induce motion.

In computers, fans are used primarily for cooling purposes and are mounted on all major heat-generating computer components including the processor, the power supply and high-end graphics cards. 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.

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I do a lot of projects with them. Are these hard drive magnets strong enough to erase 4mm DDS backup tapes? I make stuff, play music, and sometimes make stuff that plays music.

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Your choice here will be recorded for all Make. Beware, they will bite you! Good to know, I was referring to the end users who for the most part simply toss stuff.

By Donald Bell. Donald Bell. Related Stories from Make:.