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In addition to wiping computer memory and potentially shattering if they get away from you, another big issue is getting them unstuck from a metal object or another magnet. I’ve seen people create a jig to shear large magnets apart from one another because pulling is pretty much futile when they are stuck flat to a large metal object.

Some hard drive magnets I’ve retrieved (about the size of a guitar pick) have pinched my fingers like they got caught in some pliers. Yeowch! I’ve got about half of them left since a number of them have cracked or shattered over the years.

Still, they come in very handy in some woodworking repairs where a clamp might be hard to place.