An apparatus for a disk drive having at least one disk mounted in a housing having a controlled environment defined by the housing. Such a disk drive generally includes, within the controlled environment, one or more transducers for reading information from and writing information to the disk, and at least one actuator for selectively positioning the transducers with respect to the disks. Each actuator includes at least one magnet for providing a magnetic field and an actuator coil, mounted on the actuator, arranged so that a current in said coil creates a force to pivot the actuator. The apparatus comprises a magnet shield encasing each such magnet for preventing matter, generated during the decomposition of said magnet over a period of time, from interfering with the operation of the disk drive.