Floppy Disks: How They Are Affected By Magnetic Fields

Yes. There are many sources of magnetic fields that are common with electronic and electrical equipment. Apple Technical Support is sometimes asked how to measure the strength of these fields to determine if they can damage the data on diskettes. This is often very difficult to do because there are too many variables, such as:

• the strength and proximity of the magnet
  
• the flux field of the magnet, which may be highly influenced by the ferrite material to which it is attached
  
• the age of the disk and the age of the data on the disk
  
• the age of the disk drive
  
• the condition, alignment, and cleanliness of the disk drive
  
• the orientation of the disk in relationship to the field
  

You should always isolate diskettes from magnetic sources, includeing telephones, monitors, and printers.