Magnets on case for PDA

[+Pirates of Tuskegee]

I am looking at getting one of these for my Palm M500.

 

 

I am worried that the magnet that holds the case shut will screw with the PDA's internal memory. I figured since they are made for blackberrys and they are technically PDAs it would be OK. Anyone have any insight as to whether it is safe or not?

Edited January 18, 2008 by Pirates of Tuskegee

[+egami]

I am looking at getting one of these for my Palm M500.

 

 

I am worried that the magnet that holds the case shut will screw with the PDA's internal memory. I figured since they are made for blackberrys and they are technically PDAs it would be OK. Anyone have any insight as to whether it is safe or not?

 

Some of our field people carry that exact kind...no problem.

[+Pirates of Tuskegee]

Thanks.

[+Glenn]

I am worried that the magnet that holds the case shut will screw with the PDA's internal memory. I figured since they are made for blackberrys and they are technically PDAs it would be OK. Anyone have any insight as to whether it is safe or not?

 

Magnetic core memory hasn't been used for a long while. You don't have anything to worry about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_core_memory

[+egami]

I am worried that the magnet that holds the case shut will screw with the PDA's internal memory. I figured since they are made for blackberrys and they are technically PDAs it would be OK. Anyone have any insight as to whether it is safe or not?

 

Magnetic core memory hasn't been used for a long while. You don't have anything to worry about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_core_memory

 

Magnets can still wreak havoc on electronics if they are not shielded well from the magnetic field. That's how a hard drive can get damaged, among other problems, they don't work on magnetic infrastructure either, but put one of those bad boys in a strong enough magnetic field and watch your zeros and ones reset randomly.

[+Pirates of Tuskegee]

 

Magnets can still wreak havoc on electronics if they are not shielded well from the magnetic field. That's how a hard drive can get damaged, among other problems, they don't work on magnetic infrastructure either, but put one of those bad boys in a strong enough magnetic field and watch your zeros and ones reset randomly.

I assume from the fact that this case is designed for Blackberrys and that the magnet it not very strong, that I don't have anything to worry about in this case correct?

[+egami]

 

Magnets can still wreak havoc on electronics if they are not shielded well from the magnetic field. That's how a hard drive can get damaged, among other problems, they don't work on magnetic infrastructure either, but put one of those bad boys in a strong enough magnetic field and watch your zeros and ones reset randomly.

I assume from the fact that this case is designed for Blackberrys and that the magnet it not very strong, that I don't have anything to worry about in this case correct?

 

Yeah, like I said, our field guys have some of these and we have no problems with them. The magnet is just enough to latch and that's it. Most electronics are manufactured pretty well and in most cases you'd have to try to do damage intentionally, so nothing to worry about.

 

A lot of these devices are using solid state memory. And that's maybe what he was meaning to convey.

 

However, strong magnetic fields around electronics are still never good...these little fastener things, no problem.

Edited January 18, 2008 by egami

[+BigWhiteTruck]

Magnets can still wreak havoc on electronics if they are not shielded well from the magnetic field. That's how a hard drive can get damaged, among other problems, they don't work on magnetic infrastructure either, but put one of those bad boys in a strong enough magnetic field and watch your zeros and ones reset randomly.

 

Hard drives ARE magnetic storage, that is WHY they get screwed up in a magnetic field.

PDAs don't have hard drives, with the exception of the Palm LifeDrive, they have flash memory, which is electronic, not magnetic.

[+egami]

Magnets can still wreak havoc on electronics if they are not shielded well from the magnetic field. That's how a hard drive can get damaged, among other problems, they don't work on magnetic infrastructure either, but put one of those bad boys in a strong enough magnetic field and watch your zeros and ones reset randomly.

 

Hard drives ARE magnetic storage, that is WHY they get screwed up in a magnetic field.

 

Working in IT I am aware of this.

 

Along with the general nature of how data is stored and other differences.

 

PDAs don't have hard drives, with the exception of the Palm LifeDrive, they have flash memory, which is electronic, not magnetic.

 

Flash memory = solid state as I mentioned above.

 

Another advantage to solid state memory is that it's pretty resilient. I've had USB storage go through the wash on a number of occasions without data loss or corruption.

Edited January 18, 2008 by egami

[+pwcinpc]

I have one of the covers that came with my Dell PDA. After wearing it on my belt for a period of time I noticed that my credit cards in my wallet could no longer be swiped. It does not effect the performance of the PDA, but it will any other material.

[+egami]

I have one of the covers that came with my Dell PDA. After wearing it on my belt for a period of time I noticed that my credit cards in my wallet could no longer be swiped. It does not effect the performance of the PDA, but it will any other material.

 

Um, you're saying that this case being on your belt (I assume) affected the credit cards in your wallet?

 

I doubt it, unless maybe you were carrying your cards in the case with the PDA, possibly. We have 20 - 30 guys in the field with these, or similar, cases and not a single one has reported any such problem.

 

In fact, I used to have a money clip that held credit cards as well that had an almost identical magnetic flap and never had an issue with that. I am guessing more than likely something else caused your cards to get whacked out.

[+cacheninja]

If any of you guys watch Mythbusters, you will remember that they debunked that theory about magnets affecting credit cards.

[+egami]

If any of you guys watch Mythbusters, you will remember that they debunked that theory about magnets affecting credit cards.

 

No, I don't watch much TV, but thanks for the information.

[+MercRocks]

No, as previous poster state that that they don't screw up PDA's

Unfortunatly though they can screw up other tools one may use in the course of doing your job.... I just purchased a case for my treo and it has 2 magnets.

In my job as a surveyors assistant, I went to set up a job yesterday. I grabbed our Shonstead metal detector and proccceed to where I knew a pin was buried under 3 feet of snow. I fired up the detector and it went crazy (usually indicating that I'm standing on the pin). I thought cool, no need to wade around in the snow. I turned the dial down to pinpoint it and it still screamed like crazy... Then the ahaha moment.... Took the phone case off my belt and everything back to normal.

Sorry to hijack the thread.... Now back to your regular caching questions....

[+Glenn]

If any of you guys watch Mythbusters, you will remember that they debunked that theory about magnets affecting credit cards.

 

Common magnets don't affect the magnetic strip on credit cards. Electromagnets however will.

[+Glenn]

 

Magnets can still wreak havoc on electronics if they are not shielded well from the magnetic field. That's how a hard drive can get damaged, among other problems, they don't work on magnetic infrastructure either, but put one of those bad boys in a strong enough magnetic field and watch your zeros and ones reset randomly.

I assume from the fact that this case is designed for Blackberrys and that the magnet it not very strong, that I don't have anything to worry about in this case correct?

 

For a magnet to be strong enough to affect an hard drive (which blackberries do not have) it would have to be a very strong magnet and much larger than what would be used as a clasp on a PDA case.

 

Magnet strength is rated in gauss. To degauss a hard drive you need at least 2000 gauss. Your common everyday magnet, like a refrigerator magnet, is rated at only a 100 or so gauss. Rare earth magnets are rated in the thousands of gauss depending on size. A lot of micro caches in my area held in place with rare earth magnets and if you've ever tried to pull one of these magnets from a piece of metal you'd discover that if you had one used a clasp it would be very annoying at best.

[+egami]

No, as previous poster state that that they don't screw up PDA's

Unfortunatly though they can screw up other tools one may use in the course of doing your job.... I just purchased a case for my treo and it has 2 magnets.

In my job as a surveyors assistant, I went to set up a job yesterday. I grabbed our Shonstead metal detector and proccceed to where I knew a pin was buried under 3 feet of snow. I fired up the detector and it went crazy (usually indicating that I'm standing on the pin). I thought cool, no need to wade around in the snow. I turned the dial down to pinpoint it and it still screamed like crazy... Then the ahaha moment.... Took the phone case off my belt and everything back to normal.

Sorry to hijack the thread.... Now back to your regular caching questions....

 

Haha, that's kind of funny....good to know. I never realized those were so sensitive.