Magnetic Covers Question

[Macmutt]

Hey guys,
I ordered my IPAD 2 but still waiting for it to arrive.
In the mean time i was considering getting the advertised foldable magnetic cover.

However my question is, don't magnets do damage to electronics ?, i mean i remember not too long ago when they used to use magnets to erase VHS tapes and computer hard drives.

I know that was like 15 years ago and this is a new state of the art 2011 device but i was just curious if magnets were safe to use in devices like this without doing damage to the hard drive or screen and so on.

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[the_john]

Magnets only erase magnetic media. There are very strong rare earth magnets in hard drives.
The drives in the iPad are like giant flash drives.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Magnets only erase magnetic media. There are very strong rare earth magnets in hard drives.
The drives in the iPad are like giant flash drives.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

As the previous poster rightly suggested, the iPad doesn’t have a ‘regular’ hard drive, like the one your PC or Mac probably has. Those hard drives record the information on a rapidly rotating magnetic disk or platter. That platter is a bit like a circular cassette tape or video cassette. The platter spins very fast and a magnetic recording head hovers above it and records the ‘bits’ and ‘bytes’. That older type of disc would theoretically be susceptible to (very) strong external magnets just as you suggested a VHS video cassette would be.

But, as the previous poster mentioned, the iPad has a much more modern bulk storage system that does not rely on a mechanical rotating disc. Instead it uses a system known as ‘flash memory’, where the ‘bits’ and ‘bytes’ are recorded on a silicon chip. This ‘flash memory chip’ can ‘remember’ those ‘bits’ and ‘bytes’ without using any electrical power, so your iPad doesn’t ‘forget’ everything when it’s switched off (though flash memory does need electrical power to record and retrieve data).

This flash memory is, more-or-less impervious to external magnetic fields, so you have no need to worry about the Smart Cover magnets affecting your iPad. But you might want to keep that Smart Cover away from any cassette tapes that you have!

OK - sorry to have rattled on so much - I’ll keep quiet now and go away....

Have fun with your iPad......

Tim
Scotland

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Oh - Oh - Oh ....... Forgot!


Good to hear from you. You’ll find a whole bunch of iPad enthusiasts in this Forum who are only too willing to help other iPad owners and to hear of their experiences. Don’t be afraid to post any questions you may have or use the ‘Search’ button near the top of the Forum web page. I usually find I discover one new interesting and useful piece of information about my iPad every day - and often not even what I was looking for!!

Hope to hear from you soon with your thoughts about the iPad.

Have fun and enjoy your iPad


If you don’t already have it you can download a copy of the iPad manual for free from


http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...User_Guide.pdf

Also the iPad2 manual is available at http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...user_guide.pdf

It’s free too.

Tim
Scotland

[Tigerbyte0]

I'm thinking you may want to keep the magnetic iPad cover away from laptop hard drives as well as video and cassette tapes.

[Wolfpuppies3]

wallet and credit cards.

[madhatter61]

We just got our iPad2 ... wanted the Blue Smart Cover from Apple ... none in stock locally ... so we picked up the Targus VuScape from Best Buy... roughly $40. Same price as Smart Cover ... just doesn't include the magnetic on/off feature ... which I really like. DYI can fix that however.

What is really nice about the VuScape is three standup angles (the iPad's always in the case) ... setup is very simple and EZ. The slightly padded back adds to holding comfort in Portrait orientation. It also has beautiful corner protection which the Smart Cover does not. Also it has long edge and rear protection which is highly desirable as well.

The only other case I would even consider is the Zaggmate with built-in bluetooth keyboard. If you need a mechanical keyboard for lots of typing speed and accuracy ... this is the one. $99 ... Available mid April for iPad2 ... IMHO.