Sam Gillett wrote:
IMHO, the drives in a Mac have enough shielding to protect data from any degaussing that occurs at power-on time. In the case of a monitor sitting on top of a desktop unit, the metal case of the computer provides additional shielding. But, it is still a bad idea to sit a box of disks on top of your color monitor. Even if that monitor is attached to a C64 or other classic home computer.
When I started with computers I read about all these things you shouldn't do. But I always liked to experiment. Keep disks away from magnets -- stuck one to the fridge with a big magnet for a couple of years, still worked fine. Keep disks away from monitors -- had some tight against one for several years, still worked. Don't put your disks on an Apple Graphics tablet -- that wiped the disks clean!! Wayne