Hi all,

I'm about to place two speakers with no magnetic shielding in my bedroom, where I store various external hard drives as well as a Mac Pro sitting about eight feet from the bookcase I'd like to place the speakers onto. My question is: how concerned should I be about keeping hard drives away from the speakers? Is eight feet far enough from the Mac? Can some of the external hard drives continue to pull double duty as bookends on the same bookcase (they're not in use and stored in the manufacturer's box). The speakers would go on the top shelf, about two feet away.

Also, are there any similar concerns with stereo receivers?

Thanks. :)

Also, what about optical drives? Is there anything magnetic in them?

Everything I've read on this topic indicates that it's impossible to erase an HDD with a magnet unless you're really trying.

http://www.howtogeek.com/231216/can-...ps-hard-drive/

Few people realize that HDD have very powerful magnets inside, as they've never dismantled a drive.

That said, I'd still not keep drives next to anything powerful, as magnetic field can do harm. But "next to" is inches, not 8 feet. There's no issue with 8 feet.

The bigger issue is not having shielding. HDD will be the least of your concern. FM noise is, which causes noise on the line (hum, hiss, other distortions).