Someone intentionally put a magnet by my hard drive.


Recommended Posts

It was a very small one, one you can find in kids' toys, but either way, there was a magnet right by my hard drive for god knows how long.. and i diddn't discover it until this morning. I started asking people around the house if they knew anything about it, but none of them did. Whoever did it did do it on purpose, because i have the screws DEADBOLTED in there. Someone UNSCREWED them and put the magnet there. I haven't opened the side panel of my computer since day one when i had it built by my local computer professional after i had gotten the parts for it. I haven't found any signs of any corruption, but the computer did have overheating issues which lead me to discover the magnet. There had been a whole bunch of VHS tapes right by the computer. Most of them, very good movies indeed, the entire Back to the future trilogy, independence day, Toy story 1 & 2, you get the point.

 

Anyway, i need suggestions on WHO might have did such a thing. I mean, a bunch of my brothers friends were here. Some big guy nearly took off with my New Nintendo 3DS XL, But that's a whole 'nother story.

7 minutes ago, benjamine6 said:

It was a very small one, one you can find in kids' toys, but either way, there was a magnet right by my hard drive for god knows how long.. and i diddn't discover it until this morning. I started asking people around the house if they knew anything about it, but none of them did. Whoever did it did do it on purpose, because i have the screws DEADBOLTED in there. Someone UNSCREWED them and put the magnet there. I haven't opened the side panel of my computer since day one when i had it built by my local computer professional after i had gotten the parts for it. I haven't found any signs of any corruption, but the computer did have overheating issues which lead me to discover the magnet. There had been a whole bunch of VHS tapes right by the computer. Most of them, very good movies indeed, the entire Back to the future trilogy, independence day, Toy story 1 & 2, you get the point.

 

Anyway, i need suggestions on WHO might have did such a thing. I mean, a bunch of my brothers friends were here. Some big guy nearly took off with my New Nintendo 3DS XL, But that's a whole 'nother story.

No, I don't get the point

4 minutes ago, jjkusaf said:

hmmm....what is the question?  A kid's magnet isn't going to damage or cause corruption on the hard drive.

He wants us to tell him who might have done this.  Me, i think Warwagon did it - it's the sort of joke he would play.

1 minute ago, metallithrax said:

He wants us to tell him who might have done this.  Me, i think Warwagon did it - it's the sort of joke he would play.

hmmm...yea ... @warwagonis a strong possibility.  I would put my money on @DevTech though.

1 hour ago, jjkusaf said:

hmmm...yea ... @warwagonis a strong possibility.  I would put my money on @DevTech though.

I would only do it in the case it was iron-ic

 

So the question is Hound of the Baskervilles. We all put on Sherlock Holmes caps, smoke a pipe, play the violin, consume medically spirit lifting substances while simultaneously avoiding the perils of the Scottish Moors on a Dark and Story Night.

 

Or we can always go back further to the 1500's and chat with William of Occam: tiny magnet fell into case during original assembly. (1)

 

(2) The case somewhere has a large enough opening for magnet to fall in by accident. Even a fan without a grill etc.

 

All other increasingly less likely alternatives involve inimical intent by a human, except for a subsequent impossibly less likely Series of Unfortunate Events (4) such as spontaneous creation of tiny magnets as a new heavier than the Higg's Boson particle.

 

(3) Inimical intent possibilities require as a pre-condition entites that have anger or extreme dislike to the OP combined with confidence to open a computer case combined with lack of basic science and technology education to think a tiny magnet could damage a modern hard drive platter.

 

A) Anger/Dislike

B) Lack of impulse control so A) can be acted on

C) Confidence to operate basic tools

D) Low IQ or Lack of attention in Science Class

 

Using standard FBI Profiling, the criminal responsible is Biff (from Back to the Future)

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 7/17/2016 at 8:42 AM, benjamine6 said:

It was a very small one, one you can find in kids' toys, but either way, there was a magnet right by my hard drive for god knows how long.. and i diddn't discover it until this morning. I started asking people around the house if they knew anything about it, but none of them did. Whoever did it did do it on purpose, because i have the screws DEADBOLTED in there. Someone UNSCREWED them and put the magnet there. I haven't opened the side panel of my computer since day one when i had it built by my local computer professional after i had gotten the parts for it. I haven't found any signs of any corruption, but the computer did have overheating issues which lead me to discover the magnet. There had been a whole bunch of VHS tapes right by the computer. Most of them, very good movies indeed, the entire Back to the future trilogy, independence day, Toy story 1 & 2, you get the point.

 

Anyway, i need suggestions on WHO might have did such a thing. I mean, a bunch of my brothers friends were here. Some big guy nearly took off with my New Nintendo 3DS XL, But that's a whole 'nother story.

You know what, Benjamin (I'm assuming that's your real name, or some variant of your username), at Cornell University, they have an incredible piece of scientific equipment known as the "tunneling electron microscope." Now, this microscope is so powerful that by firing electrons, you can actually see images of the atom, the infinite decimally minute building block of our universe. But if I were using that microscope right now, I still wouldn't be able to locate my interest in your problem.  

 

Secondly, why did you name some of the movies?  Nobody was wondering "hmmm, I wonder which good movies he's talking about?"

 

Finally, don't worry about the hard drive - if it was a small magnet, it would have no effect on the disk inside.  But what's with the selective ALL CAPS?  Just wondering.  Maybe it was Mark?

6 hours ago, warwagon said:

I see you found the magnet I left for you.

 

You are an ass dude....lost all respect for you.....  :p

 

To answer the OP, your guess who did this is better than anyone elses.  Small magnets can be pretty strong.  Do you have a pic of the magnet? 

3 hours ago, Danielx64 said:

Is the OP that same guy who wrote about finding a surface book looged into his account? (If anyone remembers about that).

No - I think those far-fetched stories are always IllegalOperation - most think he is bored and makes stuff up.

  • Like 3
7 minutes ago, T3X4S said:

No - I think those far-fetched stories are always IllegalOperation - most think  know he is bored and makes stuff up.

FIFY!

And my 2 cents: This 'story' sounds just like a @illegaloperation tale.

  • Like 3
On 7/20/2016 at 1:28 PM, devHead said:

You know what, Benjamin (I'm assuming that's your real name, or some variant of your username), at Cornell University, they have an incredible piece of scientific equipment known as the "tunneling electron microscope." Now, this microscope is so powerful that by firing electrons, you can actually see images of the atom, the infinite decimally minute building block of our universe. But if I were using that microscope right now, I still wouldn't be able to locate my interest in your problem.  

 

Secondly, why did you name some of the movies?  Nobody was wondering "hmmm, I wonder which good movies he's talking about?"

 

Finally, don't worry about the hard drive - if it was a small magnet, it would have no effect on the disk inside.  But what's with the selective ALL CAPS?  Just wondering.  Maybe it was Mark?

He made an attempt to be interesting, to tell a story, to set the stage for whatever inventive entertainment people want to run with.

 

But that somehow exceeded the collective dis-intelligence of the internet forum format and and he should have aimed a lot lower into the big emptiness.  "Should he upgrade to Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro" is the question to ask if he really wanted to get peoples attention on an important and vital discussion...

 

In addition to Domain Join, the upgrade to the Windows 10 Pro version would give him "Enterprise Magnet Detection" which was a feature originally developed in Microsoft Garage but left the incubator when people realized how common nefarious magnet implantation occurs in office politics. Combined with BitLocker, MagnetLocker ensures that vital enterprise data like the schedule for the office XMAS party is constantly protected from both environmental and supra-environmental sources of digital degradation.

 

  • Like 3

I guess the important question of the day is "How many accounts does @illegaloperation have?" :D or dare I say it, could these be 'friends 'or 'acquaintances' of his?

  • Like 3
5 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I guess the important question of the day is "How many accounts does @illegaloperation have?" :D or dare I say it, could these be 'friends 'or 'acquaintances' of his?

Why did you tag me?  I have nothing to do with this topic.

 

I have to go back to babysitting my little cousin.

 

Bye-bye.

1 minute ago, illegaloperation said:

Why did you tag me?  I have nothing to do with this topic.

 

I have to go back to babysitting my little cousin.

 

Bye-bye.

Your baby cousin that 'stole the golf cart, parked it in your drive way, and rode off with your Macbook Pro while flirting with Sarah on the phone' ?

heh, I remember the many cases of users putting disks on the fridge using magnets and not knowing why their data is corrupted.

 

Though I can't speak too much. When I was a kid watching Mr. Wizard talking about magnetism, I decided to test his theory and put a giant magnet against the TV, leaving a permanent distortion.

 

But to this very day, I am terrified of putting my phone and Kindle in the same pocket. My brain knows they won't mess up each other, but... electromagnets...

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • We had no idea as kids how much time and energy it took to be an adult 😅
    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval by David Uzondu Image via @realDonalTrump (X) As OpenAI prepares the release of its next model, GPT 5.6, the White House has instructed the company to limit the distribution of the software to a small group of government-approved partners instead of the general public, as it has done with previous releases. According to The Information, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman sent an internal memo to staff on Thursday explaining that the federal government will approve access "customer by customer" during an initial preview phase. Altman noted in the communication that this restrictive rollout is "not [their] long-term model" for software deployment, and the company plans to work toward a "more sustainable" distribution method later. CNN said that both OpenAI and the Trump administration view the capabilities of GPT 5.6 on the same level as Anthropic's Mythos and that government officials intend to "collaborate with frontier AI labs to develop shared approaches for addressing the challenges of scaling this technology." The latest restriction comes just weeks after the US Commerce Department decided to restrict Fable, a version of Mythos with extra safety "guardrails" to prevent users from exploiting software vulnerabilities. Not long after the release, though, researchers at Amazon found a way to bypass these restrictions, prompting an aggressive response from federal authorities. The government ordered Anthropic to cut off access for non-US citizens located outside the US, non-US citizens living inside the US, and incredibly, even Anthropic's own foreign-born employees. Anthropic now appears to be building a workaround to resolve this compliance block with an update to its Privacy Policy that introduces a category called "Verification Data" to handle KYC and Digital IDs. This setup could mandate digital identity checks to filter users by nationality, requiring a government-issued ID and facial biometric data. Who knows? Maybe in the future, you would have to scan your US Passport or State ID to prove your citizenship before you are allowed to chat with Fable 5 (or any other model).
    • When Windows 7 was released I created an AutoHotkey script that uses Alt+` as a keyboard shortcut to move a window across monitors. I have been using that script for over 15 years and this is the first time I have come across another app that uses the same shortcut!
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Enthusiast
      Xonos went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      403
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      172
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      127
    4. 4
      neufuse
      69
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!