A Hard Drive Cannot Be Erased With A Magnet

[braincell]

Thinking I could erase a damaged hard drive with a strong magnet but I did some research and found out this is impossible:

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=h ... estruction

[jksuperstar]

You can't ever use a magnet to wipe the data on a hard drive. There is information written at the factory that is used continuously to figure out where the mechanics are in relation to the disk. erase that, and you'll get a fatal error and not be able to write or read ever again.

And that info can't be created again...the factories have stable vibration free platforms, and each drive runs continuous for three days to generate accurate enough locating data. Not a part of normal "formatting" at all.

If the drive is bad, take it apart, pull the magnets out, and use them on your fridge