but I don't know know whether that's a very good idea due to the proximity to the hard drives.

It is my understanding that the magnets would have to be enormously powerful and located within a few millimeters of the hard drive platter before it could have any effect on the hard drive. See Hugo's reply and Rob Schofield's reply to a similar question I had six months ago about placing my player in close proximity to my center channel speaker.

tanstaafl.