🚀 go-pugleaf

flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal) writes:
>As others have pointed out, it's probably the metal detectors and the other
>magnetic fields around an airport which scramble your disks.  For floppies, I
>highly recommend wrapping them in aluminum foil.  If people laugh at you, tell
>them it's a Faraday cage.  It really works.  You should wrap floppies for local
>travel too, when they have important data on them (i.e. aren't just copies
>you're taking from one computer to another).


YES.   Its been a while since my A-level physics, but as i recall
once these  Gauss'ian surface's had been introduced to us, all
disk + tape boxes were Gauss'ed. (Silver foil & glue ;-)

If one casts ones mind back, when we all had ``home micros'' (z80's &c)
one recalls that hoovers would Z*A*P them, so sensible micro manufacturers
would paint the inside of the case with a conducting paint, creating a
Gauss'ian surface, which incidently *may* have small holes in it.

Computers for the UK government (secrets) have to be treated in this way,
that's what those fine wire mesh's are over the screen, so that you cant
pick up any spurious signals from outside the building with your signal-
detector from Tandys  %-)

j.   ucjtrjf@ucl.ac.uk