Magnets are built into cpu coolers. Unsafe?

[computerdude92]

I notice that modern cpu coolers, both watercoolers and air coolers, use magnets in their design. The Corsair watercoolers have magnetic clips to attach the pump to the mobo. My big Noctua air cooler has magnetic fans. I heard magnets are not good for PCs. Why do manufacturers think it's OK? Am I safe as long as the magnetic cooler parts don't get too close to my hard drive?

[justanotherhacker]

And all the motors in your case fans have magnetic fields too

Most parts of any computer from the last ten or twenty years wouldn't really be affected. A big magnet on the HDD risks damage (the HDD already contains two really, really strong magnets though - for the head positioner) but none of these add-on parts you mention put a really strong magnet right on the HDD. Manufacturers don't just think it's OK - they know it's OK. At least for magnets of the sort of strength you get at home. Maybe keep your PC some distance from MRI scanners and large physics-research particle accelerators. (If nothing else, the operators will yell at you for bringing it there).

A retro computer with floppy drives and a CRT has more to worry about. However a magnetic field falls off quite rapidly with distance and most magnets are not THAT powerful.

[Agent Orange]

I notice that modern cpu coolers, both watercoolers and air coolers, use magnets in their design. The Corsair watercoolers have magnetic clips to attach the pump to the mobo. My big Noctua air cooler has magnetic fans. I heard magnets are not good for PCs. Why do manufacturers think it's OK? Am I safe as long as the magnetic cooler parts don't get too close to my hard drive?

Dude, sleep easy. I've been running liquid cooling systems on two different PC for quite a while, and never had a problem with 'magnetic flux' interfering with anything. BTW, both my coolers are Corsair (H100 & H100i). You could go over to 'Overclockers.net' for more info.

[mbbrutman]

Shh! There are magnets in hard drives, big rare earth ones, less than an inch away from your data!

[Trixter]

Why do manufacturers think it's OK?

In the absence of all research, consider that tens of millions of these have been sold with zero complaints about data loss.

[Stone]

FWIW, all electrical motors have magnets or magnetic properties. That's how they work.

[NeXT]

The fact that at one point screw-on fan shrouds for hard drives were a thing and we never had problems with those nuking drives....



...I can say for certain that any magnet found within your typical PC fan or cooling solution will not affect the integrity of your data.
Same goes for those magnetic PC case filters.

[KC9UDX]

And that it's actually difficult to erase magnetic media with a stationary permanent magnet. It's even difficult to intentionally erase magnetic media with a degaussing coil.

I was just thinking about this the other day. Remember all the fears about the magnetic stripes on early credit cards? How many times have you actually had a magnetic stripe on a credit card compromised since then?

I wish I had time; I could make a good video of this. I'd get a 10 or 20Mb hard drive, continuously read it for errors, and move a degaussing coil closer and closer until it creates a problem. I bet I could get 5 or even 6 views on YouTube of a video like that.

[SomeGuy]

There is more danger from the #$^#$^% burn-out-your-eye-socket blue LEDs.

[Chuck(G)]

And that it's actually difficult to erase magnetic media with a stationary permanent magnet. It's even difficult to intentionally erase magnetic media with a degaussing coil.

I was just thinking about this the other day. Remember all the fears about the magnetic stripes on early credit cards? How many times have you actually had a magnetic stripe on a credit card compromised since then?

I wish I had time; I could make a good video of this. I'd get a 10 or 20Mb hard drive, continuously read it for errors, and move a degaussing coil closer and closer until it creates a problem. I bet I could get 5 or even 6 views on YouTube of a video like that.

Maybe for hard drives, but I constructed a quite effective permanent magnet eraser for floppies by removing two ceramic magnets from an old microwave oven magnetron and constructing a jig to hold them with like poles facing about 1/8" apart. A quick swipe through that with a floppy renders the floppy unreadable, even by me. I suspect that it'd be death to credit card stripes as well, but those seem to be going the way of the dodo pretty quickly.