When I first started using computers, law of the land in computer class was never bring magnets near anything computer related, lest you lose all your data or screw up your monitor.
Now I am pretty sure magnets will still royally mess up a standard hard drive, and I know for a fact they screw up a CRT monitor.
Though I am also pretty sure they do not screw up a LCD monitor?
Now I have my phone which uses magnets to determine if it’s docked, and it made me wonder.
Is it the power of the magnet preventing data loss or the sheer fact that whatever memory type in the phone is immune to it?
What about ear buds, as I know those have tiny magnets in them. Are those capable of damaging any electronic device currently in use?
I’m wondering if I’m being paranoid, but I really am not sure what magnets will damage and what they won’t!
Is there a list, or rule of thumb for determining what will be hurt by magnets and what won’t be?
Solution:
Hard drives, RAM chips, power supply, anything electrical can be vulnerable to magnetic fields.
In common practice it’s not all that harmful unless you’re doing it on purpose. Case in point is the magnet MacBooks come with built in to use with the power supply.