Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mikeash 3920 days ago
I agree. I tried to erase 3.5" and 5.25" floppies with refrigerator magnets as a kid, and they did nothing.

Magnetism is an inverse-cube law, and the write head is really close to the disk. Even if you hold your magnet to the floppy casing, you have a hard fight against the inverse cube.