Magnets VS CF cards/electronics

[WhatULive4]

I am planning to use a NES PowerPak with my upcoming project. My question is, will magnets cause any problems with CF cards?

I know in G-force's PSPNes he used magnets to hold his together (fricken sweet portable BTW). Although that is not what I will be using them for, I still would like to know if they cause any problems.

Would it be wise not to put them near any circuits period? I've never used them in a project before, nor experimented with them. Please, expound me your knowledge!!

[timmeh87]

Ive kept magnets with gameboy games in my pocket before. The were fine... I think it's okay.

[WhatULive4]

Ive kept magnets with gameboy games in my pocket before. The were fine... I think it's okay.

Did any of those gameboy games use save states? Also, how powerful were the magnets. I plan on using fairly powerful ones.

[Neildo_64]

They shouldn't be a problem unless they are very very close to the sensitive things (as in touching them). Usually the casing on the games keeps them safe as it is thick enough to keep the magnets at least a mm or two away. As long as you don't put the magnets against anything sensitive to them, you should be alright.

[WhatULive4]

Thanks Neildo.

If anyone has had any problem with magnets please let me know. I would hate to wreck a perfectly good system/memory card.

[bicostp]

Flash memory doesn't care about magnetism. I think the only way a magnet can ruin flash media is if it's strong enough to crush the chips against another piece of metal.

Did any of those gameboy games use save states?

I think Gameboy games use a little RAM to keep save states, hence the batteries in them.

In fact, magnetic media isn't as vulnerable as you would expect. I've held floppies to the refrigerator using magnets without any immediate problems. In fact, your hard drive has a couple really strong magnets less than an inch from the storage platters.

You're only going to have immediate problems with magnetic media if you use REALLY strong magnets (like the big, round, car-lifting ones Jamie has on Mythbusters) or an electromagnet that's specifically designed to erase tapes. (They oscillate the poles really quickly, which scrambles the particles.)

The little round magnets you can get at Radio Shack aren't an immediate danger to your project.

[WhatULive4]

Flash memory doesn't care about magnetism. I think the only way a magnet can ruin flash media is if it's strong enough to crush the chips against another piece of metal.

Did any of those gameboy games use save states?

I think Gameboy games use a little RAM to keep save states, hence the batteries in them.

In fact, magnetic media isn't as vulnerable as you would expect. I've held floppies to the refrigerator using magnets without any immediate problems. In fact, your hard drive has a couple really strong magnets less than an inch from the storage platters.

You're only going to have immediate problems with magnetic media if you use REALLY strong magnets (like the big, round, car-lisfing ones Jamie has on Mythbusters) or an electromagnet that's specifically designed to erase tapes. (They oscillate the poles really quickly, which scrambles the particles.)

The little round magnets you can get at Radio Shack aren't an immediate danger to your project.

Thank-you so much. Thats exactly what I wanted to hear. mythbusters ftw

[Kurt_]

After getting an old work computer from my grandpa I was told to wipe the data before using it. I thought I'd cheat/be extra safe before formatting properly and use some magnets to wipe all the data. They were either ceramic or neodymium magnets, I think ceramic. I put the right up against the HD case and rubbed quite a bit. I turned on the computer, and voila! It wouldn't start up, just as planned. A few minutes later, though, it was back in working condition.

[WhatULive4]

So basically they are sensitive to magnetic exposure, but once the induced magnetic field is gone the device should be fine?

Thankfully the design of my project shouldn't be a problem.