🚀 go-pugleaf

avinash@sam.contex.com (Avinash Chopde) writes:

>This brings up another question---I have seen many persons (me too), 
>keep floppies close to the monitor.
>And the monitor is turned on and off once a day.
>I have done this for more than two years now, but my floppies are still
>readable, so it seems that the magnetic field on a floppy is quite
>strong and does not get destroyed easily.

>Yet, have heard horror stories of floppies near huge loudspeakers,
>or over a TV, etc, are these stories really true, or are they urban
>legends?

They are mostly true.  Loudspeakers and TVs (in fact _any_ appliance with
transformers including flourescent ballasts) emit _alternating_ magnetic
fields, which can destroy the data on a floppy instantly if strong enough.
In your case, the floppies probably aren't close enough, and/or they are
on a side of the monitor away from the flyback and any other transformer.
Also, your monitor probably has a cage around the loudest emitters.

-JTT