Magnetic G3 Pony and Laptop?

[scarletjul]

Paramedics arrived within five minutes, but were unable to revive Roberts.  Williamson reportedly was so distraught over the ordeal that she burned a collection of over 100 of the small plastic toys.

Aw.  It is sad that happened; poor kid must have been traumatized - I would have been. 

In general, I just keep my g3s far away from all of my electronics.  Seems the safest solution.

[hathorcat]

Gosh thats a scary story!!! Poor child and family must have been traumatised.

Mind you if you had to put warning labels of everything something could damage to the list sure could get long -  cant be as silly as the label once seen on a travel blanket which read "Not to be used as protection against a hurricane"...huh?

[RAMChYLD]

Mind you if you had to put warning labels of everything something could damage to the list sure could get long

Well, they don't have to necessarily put down a long list- just something along the lines as "not to be placed near magnetic storage media(*1), CRT displays and health support devices"

Then again, it gets very silly when you think about it- the main purpose of the magnets in the hooves was to serve as triggers for the electronic playsets' sensors!

(*1) AKA Hard drives, floppy disks (remember them?), VHS Cassettes and Audio Cassettes.

[Cadence]

...if you had to put warning labels of everything something could damage to the list sure could get long -  cant be as silly as the label once seen on a travel blanket which read "Not to be used as protection against a hurricane"...huh?

"Not to be used as protection against a hurricane"... hah! It's true though, there are some things that seem like common sense, but it's not common to everyone.

Since RAMChYLD mentionned VHS tapes (yes, we still remember them!  ), I remembered that they packaged VHS videos RIGHT BESIDE magnetic G3 ponies - ie Starcatcher.

[DoctorMowinckel]

IIRC, there was actually a news story about a little kid accidentally messing up an older relatives pacemaker with a G3 pony.  :/

There really should have been more obvious "do not put pony near..." warnings on the packages... I'm glad they stopped putting magnets in hooves!

I made a video demonstrating the strength of hard drive magnets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEG-s9XC0II

These are in EVERY HARD DRIVE. Unless it's a SSD. They are wicked strong and they are inside your hard drive. A G3 pony on a notebook won't do diddly.

The video is set to private so we can't see it... But whew, what a relief!


Thanks for the tech advice everyone!

argh! It is no longer private, my mistake!

[Cadence]

IIRC, there was actually a news story about a little kid accidentally messing up an older relatives pacemaker with a G3 pony.  :/

There really should have been more obvious "do not put pony near..." warnings on the packages... I'm glad they stopped putting magnets in hooves!

I made a video demonstrating the strength of hard drive magnets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEG-s9XC0II

These are in EVERY HARD DRIVE. Unless it's a SSD. They are wicked strong and they are inside your hard drive. A G3 pony on a notebook won't do diddly.

The video is set to private so we can't see it... But whew, what a relief!


Thanks for the tech advice everyone!

argh! It is no longer private, my mistake!

"Me? Pretty strong guy. I play hockey!"
Your video was quite enthusiastic and very informing & effective at the same time! Thanks a bunch for demonstrating the strength of hard drive magnets!!   

Love the dedicated pony area by the mirror by the way.

[RAMChYLD]

Since RAMChYLD mentionned VHS tapes (yes, we still remember them!  ), I remembered that they packaged VHS videos RIGHT BESIDE magnetic G3 ponies - ie Starcatcher.

And the tape was still playable?!

If the magnet can't damage a VHS tape, it's a weak magnet and it can't do anything to a hard drive at all.

argh! It is no longer private, my mistake!

Well, you have those in the hard drive, then there's shielding around the hard drive, so I'd say it's pretty safe.

[LadyMoondancer]

Not very weak at all, IMO--I can hang G3s upside down on metal surfaces!    I often have some climbing up my fridge . . .

It's true Starcatcher was packaged with a VHS tape, but IIRC, Starcatcher's magnet was in her back hoof rather than her front hoof like most G3s.  So the magnet was actually a good distance away from the tape.

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With "A Very Charming Birthday" VHS, the tape was sort of strapped to the back of the packaging with tape, outside of it, so again no direct contact with the magnet.

[partypony566]

I remember as a kid in the 80s if you put a magnet on top of the TV the screen would go green, so I don't put magnets anywhere near electricals now

[hathorcat]

Not very weak at all, IMO--I can hang G3s upside down on metal surfaces!    I often have some climbing up my fridge . . .

It's true Starcatcher was packaged with a VHS tape, but IIRC, Starcatcher's magnet was in her back hoof rather than her front hoof like most G3s.  So the magnet was actually a good distance away from the tape.

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With "A Very Charming Birthday" VHS, the tape was sort of strapped to the back of the packaging with tape, outside of it, so again no direct contact with the magnet.

*nostalgia moment when ponies were packaged with VHS tapes and not mini DVDs*...sigh

[Cadence]

Not very weak at all, IMO--I can hang G3s upside down on metal surfaces!    I often have some climbing up my fridge . . .

It's true Starcatcher was packaged with a VHS tape, but IIRC, Starcatcher's magnet was in her back hoof rather than her front hoof like most G3s.  So the magnet was actually a good distance away from the tape.

With "A Very Charming Birthday" VHS, the tape was sort of strapped to the back of the packaging with tape, outside of it, so again no direct contact with the magnet.

*nostalgia moment when ponies were packaged with VHS tapes and not mini DVDs*...sigh

Very true, LadyMoondancer. The tapes were playable even if they were only a few inches away from the back hoof. By the way, I would probably love your fridge!
And yes hathorcat, I'm reminiscing with you. 

I remember as a kid in the 80s if you put a magnet on top of the TV the screen would go green, so I don't put magnets anywhere near electricals now

Wow, hope your TV was okay after removing the magnet! (If I had known that as a kid, I probably would've found that fun. )

[LadyGuinevere]

I don't risk it at all... not since Mr G set a small. magnetic aerial on one side of his laptop temporarily and killed his harddrive

[RAMChYLD]

Wow, hope your TV was okay after removing the magnet! (If I had known that as a kid, I probably would've found that fun. )

Most newer CRT TVs and monitors made before CRT was discontinued have a degauss circuit inside. Just turn the TV or monitor off, wait a few minutes, And turn it back on. When it comes out of standby, you'll hear an extra click, and the picture will be fixed

I don't risk it at all... not since Mr G set a small. magnetic aerial on one side of his laptop temporarily and killed his harddrive

Hmmm, I'd think that was a coincidence. Either that or the laptop was poorly designed and lacked shielding over the drive bay, and was coupled with a poorly made hard drive (*cough*hitachideskstar*cough*).

And I think I've seen one of such antenna- the magnet on that one is extremely strong (I actually found it very tough to remove from the metal display shelf : P ), very much stronger than one in the hoof of a G3. It is also way bigger.

Another thing tho- the magnets DoctorMowinckel demonstrated are for desktop (3.5 inch) hard drives. Laptop (2.5 inch) hard drives are smaller and thinner, and thus may be more sensitive to magnetic fields. But on the other hand, laptop hard drives must be built to withstand strong magnetic forces or the owner would have trouble every time he/she passes through a metal detector or baggage scanner! Both which generates extreme amounts of magnetic forces while in operation, and some are even known to destroy camcorder recordings back when camcorders used tapes!

[LadyGuinevere]

I don't risk it at all... not since Mr G set a small. magnetic aerial on one side of his laptop temporarily and killed his harddrive

Hmmm, I'd think that was a coincidence. Either that or the laptop was poorly designed and lacked shielding over the drive bay, and was coupled with a poorly made hard drive (*cough*hitachideskstar*cough*).

And I think I've seen one of such antenna- the magnet on that one is extremely strong (I actually found it very tough to remove from the metal display shelf : P ), very much stronger than one in the hoof of a G3. It is also way bigger.

Quite possibly.... it was a good number  of years ago now (at least 5, possibly as many as 7 or 8), and the laptop wasn't exactly new at the time. Fairly sure it wasn't a coincidence, but I never tested the strength of the magnet myself, so it may well have been quite strong. From memory it  had a bigger surface area, but was quite thin. I still prefer not to risk it, just in case

[StarSwirl05]

I have no idea but I'm not about to take chances because I put tape over my G3 Star Swirl pony's magnetic hoof.