Question Can a degaussing coil affect a hard drive if the coil is turned off?

[royrichard1290]

I have this degaussing coil that I bought for my CRT TV a long time ago. I just want to store it atm but I read on the instructions that it could affect magnetic media. Since I have no idea how this stuff works I want to be absolutely sure, this won't affect my hard drives if the coil is not even plugged in, right?

 

[kanewolf]

I have this degaussing coil that I bought for my CRT TV a long time ago. I just want to store it atm but I read on the instructions that it could affect magnetic media. Since I have no idea how this stuff works I want to be absolutely sure, this won't affect my hard drives if the coil is not even plugged in, right?

No. If there is no AC flowing through the coil, it is just a pile of wire.

 

[royrichard1290]

Ok thanks a lot.

 

[Misgar]

Many years ago I experimented on a 3.5in 1.44MB floppy disc with a mains powered tape head demagnetiser. It had no discernible effect and data could still be read back on a PC. When I clamped the disc between two permanent magnets removed from a motor and rotated the disk by hand, all the data vanished.

Don't worry about the CRT degausser, but don't place magnets too close to the platters inside your HDDs. Even if your degaussing coil was powered on, provided it wasn't lying on top of the drive, I doubt if it would do any damage. There are magnets already mounted inside drives, but they're carefully positioned so as not to affect data.