[slodave]

The laptop/magnet issues is funny. People are concerned that if they bring a magnet near the hard drive, it will erase the drive. Um, there are two powerful magnets inside the drive that are used to keep the head locked and also how it moves the head across the platters. The motor that spins the platters is a magnet in itself, albeit weak compared to the other two. You need a very powerful magnet to wipe the platters. More than likely, the magnets in the bag are strong enough to keep the bag in place, but not strong enough to wipe anything out. Legal makes them do that, because there will be that one time where things go wrong and data is lost.

There was a time, when the drives were bigger, that I could take two of the magnets and use them to hold me off the ground in a metal door frame. I also use them (current magnets) to wipe the magnetic strip on the back of my DL. They are very good at doing that.

As for other devices, not so sure. I'd probably try and keep a smart phone as far away from the bottom as I can.