Hard drive dangerous to store with DV tape??

vicmilt wrote on 6/11/2003, 12:00 PM

I'm wondering if anyone knows if there are magnets in hard drives which might corrupt DV tapes if stored together for a long time in close proximity?

I currently am doing my media storage on hard drives which, at the end of a job, I am storing in a small cardboard boxes along with the original DV tapes. It just occurred to me that this might not be a smart way to store the tapes. Even low magnetism can affect magnetic tape after a prolonged exposure.

Knowledgeable answers??? (please)

v.

Comments

Cheesehole wrote on 6/11/2003, 12:21 PM

I think you should be more concerned about storing them together because if something happens to one it will happen to the other. Hard drives and tapes are both magnetic storage medium so I doubt that there is anything in either that would corrupt your information.

DavidPJ wrote on 6/11/2003, 2:34 PM

I sincerely doubt you would have any problems storing tapes next to hard drives. Computer manufacturers have been installing tape drives next to large hard drives for many years. If there was any issue we would know about it by now.

Chienworks wrote on 6/11/2003, 3:16 PM

Hard drives do have a very strong magnet in them as part of the stepper assembly for the head arms. I've used one of these magnets to hold a thick magazine up on a filing cabinet. However, the same drive before having the magnet removed didn't seem to stick to the filing cabinet at all. Apparently the case of the drive shields the magnetic field pretty well.

Also consider that if the field was a big problem then it would probably effect the platters inside the drive too.

To be safely conservative, determine where the pivot assembly is inside the drive (it's usually easy enough to find the bolt that holds the pivot in place on the underside of the drive), and stack the tapes up beside the far end of the drive case. This will put a larger distance between the tapes and the magnet as well as use most of the drive itself as a shield. Of course, this is assuming you only want to be as safe as you can be while still keeping everything close together in the same box ;)

ps. you can also locate the magnet by holding the drive up to your CRT monitor and seeing where the maximum distortion/discoloration of the screen occurs. Well ... you can hold your drive up to a very very old and otherwise unwanted CRT monitor ... this is definately NOT a recommended procedure for your new $1000 19" monitor!

pps. on second thought, ignore that ps. ;)