A drive housing (22) for shielding a storage disk (13) and a data transducer (48) of a disk drive (10) from external magnetic fields includes a housing shield (24) positioned near the storage disk (13). The housing shield (24) includes a base shield portion (60) and a cover shield portion (64) that are positioned substantially parallel to the storage disk (13). The housing shield (24) also includes one or more wall shield portions (62) oriented substantially perpendicular to the storage disk (13). The housing shield (24) is uniquely sized, shaped and formed from material to have an attenuation of field of at least approximately 10 dB. With this design, the influence of external magnetic fields is reduced and the incidence of damage to data stored on the storage disk (13) is reduced. Additionally, the housing shield (24) enhances the accurate transfer of information between the storage disk (13) and the data transducer (48) of the disk drive (10).