OT: Safe distance b/w speakers & drives?

Hi all-

I have some very old Bose 301 speakers I want to put on a desk along with a laptop, an external monitor, and two external drives. Wall mounting isn't an option -- they have to be on the desk.

I found this with Google:

Take a television or computer monitor. Turn it on with no signal input so you get that pretty blue screen. Position your monitor where your hard drive is. If you don't see any visual distortion, it's a safe place for your hard drive/floppies.

Peter T. Sabin
Marketing Manager, Consumer Division
Audio-Technica U.S., Inc.

I've already determined a safe distance for my external monitor. Do you guys agree that the above is a good rule of thumb for keeping the hard drives at a safe distance, too -- so if they're at least as far from the speakers as my monitor I should be okay? The post is several years old, but I'm guessing Mr. Sabin knew whereof he spoke. I have very limited space, and I need the speakers as close as possible to the hard drives & laptop without doing any damage.

Thanks in advance.

-Susan

Susan,

If you have serious concerns about placing hard disks near a monitor, then I would not try to change your mind. The data is precious.

However, Mr. Sabin's assertion seems a little far-fetched. Sort of like a belt + suspenders + safety pins approach. In 20 years of working with computers every day, I have never seen a hard disk fail because of EM interference. I suspect that your cel-phone puts out more radiation than what escapes a CRT. Of course, cel phones operate at microwave frequencies and emit gamma radiation, where a CRT emits beta particles (electrons).

In the grand scheme of things, there are better odds of being struck by lightning twice than the occasional leaked beta particle reacting with the electronics or magnetic surface over a large enough area to change a 0 to a 1 during the lifetime of a hard disk.

But if you've got an old, cheaply manufactured, or damaged CRT, then all bets are off!

I wouldn't worry about it.

Hi Susan!

Mr. Sabin's theory seems sound. His method is giving you a visual reference for the size of the magnetic field, If you can't see the field on a "visual" monitor then it would not be strong enough to affect your hard drives...in theory.

Now, would I back up all my important data before encroaching on my drives with a magnetic field? That would be a definite YES!

My son once inadvertantly set his computer down on a large Tannoy speaker cabinet with a 12" driver that had a very big magnet on it, and there was no damage. Conversly, we had left a portable TV on the same speaker by accident for about a week and it permanently warped the TV's image.

Rod