I have read in an old french amiga review that amiga HD drives are very sensitive to magnetic fiels, even when mounted in a proper tower.
Personnaly i use a catweasel in my A1200T and i can read/write perfectly and fast 1,44MB MSDOS and 1,76MB FFS, and even a special amiga format called Catweasl Extra of 2,38MB.
Floppies are not so useful these days but a catweasel can be handy.
