Laptop, Hard Drives and Airport X-Rays

I have never heard of any issues, and there really isn't any way around getting yor laptop through security.

I can't help with your question CharlesCS.

Dude, you're taking a vacation, leave that stuff at home!  Vacations don't last for ever, the internet will be there when you get back home.  The fact that you ask the questions says something about your life style, take a break from that stuff and enjoy Puerto Rico.  It's a VACATION!

The last time mine went through was about 2.5 years ago, but it was fine. Be prepared for them to open the cover and check the keyboard (?) though.. and I think they also swabbed mine with something and sent it through some detector. They should ask you to remove it from the bag and put it in its own bin, too.

The rest is fuzzy!

Absolutely correct.

No issue at all and have done it loads of times. Suggest you leave at least one copy at home of your backups...and don't put all your stuff in one bag.

Have a great trip! Enjoy the

LOL, my laptop is my life. I can't live without it. It's not about work, it's about entertainment. Believe me when I say i will need it for my vacation.

I would die without.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001027.htm

That's one of several articles on the subject Google finds.  Additionally, you can read the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_machine

I only gave it a very quick glance, but since it doesn't sound like X-Ray machines use magnetrons or very strong magnets in their assembly, you're golden.  Remember as well that a myriad number of business travelers fly every day and would be subjecting their laptops and other devices to hundreds more scans than you and yet we don't hear about data loss from them.

You sound like my twelve year old daughter:  "My iPod is my LIFE!  I'd die without it."  Me: "Let me see that thing..."

You might want to consider getting a TSA approved "Checkpoint Friendly" laptop bag. That way you won't have to take out the laptop and turn it on...you just unzip the bag, open it flat on the conveyer belt, and they can see the laptop and scan it. LINK

The only thing you need to worry about are things like digital cameras and the like, if I remember correctly. Most laptops are built to withstand that kind of thing, and shouldn't have a single problem. I took mine on a trip last year.

No you'll be fine.  I go on trips all the time with my laptop.  Don't have any games on it but there's never been an issue.

Taken mine through lots of times and never had a issue

Digital camera be just fine.  It's film that gets fucked by X-ray machines.  Electronics don't care about the piddling stuff at security checkpoints.

You need massive radiation to do any thing at all to them.  While running, maybe you could corrupt some information in transit if it's one of the more powerful scanners, but even that is more of a better safe than sorry precaution than a likely problem.  My suspicion is that the radiation emissions would be killing people before they were strong enough to do anything to your computer.  The carry-on baggage checks they do at the checkpoint aren't even powerful enough to fog low speed film on the first pass.  You can't take high speed film through squat though, it works just like visible light, exposing the film inside the case.

I have taken my laptop on trips by airplane so many times i can't count, there should be no problem at all, I put mine in my backpack, when you have through the x-ray thing, you pull it out and put it in a seperate bin all by itself

If you take it carry-on, you're fine.  The x-ray machines that scan carry-on baggage are not as powerful as those that scan checked baggage.

If you put it in checked, you've turned it into an expensive paperweight.

(I know it murders the hard drive; I'm not sure what else it murders.)

(Personal experience, never again.)

Well no theres is no problem with the x ray machine as long as there not like super crazy one, with overcharged magnetrons that can short circuit your stuff but, that highly doubtful! I think anyhow have a great vacation.

lol. I wonder what would happen if i took my destop!  

My laptop,ipod, cellphone,etc has gone thru Airport security many times * I travel often for work* It has never affected any of them.

Or the TSA could stop being asinine and act like every other developed nation's security checkpoints and LET YOU KEEP THE DAMNED THING IN THE BAG REGARDLESS.

Spoken like a true pirate.   AAARRGGHHHH! 

I bet they dropped it,  Hard... with their foot.  Or something.  Physics, I suggest you study it.

I've dropped hard drives and never damaged them that badly.  Something other than human negligence was afoot.

I'm not inclined to repeat the experiment, but if you believe you can remove the human error (i.e. dropping) from the equation, please feel free to inform us of your results.

And just so we're on the same page here-this was a hard drive itself, not a hard drive in a laptop.

It could have been the metal detector, those have been known to produce strong magnetic fields, usually not passing through it, but near the machine.  Still, itd have to be pretty strong.  Another option could be the motors in the conveyor belts.  Just not the xray machine.

Yeah, I wouldn't be repeating the experiment.

Close enough, if it has to pass by it.

Bottom line: Don't put it in checked, carry it on.

The metal detector does not equal the xray machine, and with normal operation (ie passing through the machine not beside it) it wont harm the drives.  Check this out HD-3 if you wanta know what it takes to fully erase a hdd with a magnetic field.  Always safer to carry on your laptop though, no one is gonna take as much care of it as you will.

There's no issue with electronics and airport X-ray machines.  It's an old wives tale/urban legend.

BUT always carry the expensive stuff with you in your carry on.  There are a LOT of baggage handlers all over the world who steal stuff out of your luggage.  I've seen it MANY times now.