Computers: why flash drives aren’t vulnerable to magnets (supposedly)
Tutoring, you see flash drives carried around with anything stored on them. The tutor shares some findings about them in relation to magnetism.
I recall holding a flash drive with a magnetic lid, and wondering how it could be so.
Apparently, flash drives hold information using electric charges, rather than magnetism. Two websites tell me that, for that reason, flash drives are not changeable by magnetism – at least, not under normal conditions.
Magnetism and electricity are related. Specifically, a changing magnetic field (for instance, as the magnet moves nearby) can cause voltage in a loop of wire. Therefore, I wouldn’t experiment with a flash drive near a magnet if the data was important.
Source:
Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.