>>We are designing a device that includes some relatively strong magnets. The device is about the size of a cigaret pack and is connected to a laptop using USB. I am afraid that at the end of the day when I throw the device in my computer bag along with my laptop and my wallet that the magnet will de-magnetise my debit cards and erase my harddrive (or even flip a couple of bits).
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>>Any useful information would be greately appreciated.
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>>Thanks,
>>Einar
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>While I have no specific data, it certainly seems a bad idea to put magnets and magnetic info cards close together.

That was my initial reaction and I was surprised that the engineers that placed the strong magnets inside the device didn't think of that.