carter@portia.Stanford.EDU (Thomas J. Carter) (12/13/89)
OK, over the past few years I've heard the discussion of taking a Mac or a hard drive through airport security, and the basic rule of thumb is to be able to show them that it works (i.e. plug it in and make it do SOMETHING). Well, does anyone have any experience with an internal hard drive? I don't remember this being discussed but I appologize if I missed it (I start to 'k' things after a while myself). I can't just plug it in the wall 'cause that's not how it works. When you figure that it looks even more like a bomb (complete with detonation wires (i.e. power/SCSI cable)) than an external drive I think I may be better off not even trying but I thought I'd ask first. Thanks in advance. Tom Carter carter@portia.stanford.edu
truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell) (12/14/89)
carter@portia.Stanford.EDU (Thomas J. Carter) writes: >Well, does anyone have any experience with an internal hard drive? I assume you are talking about an internal drive mechanism REMOVED from the computer, being transported all by itself... >I don't remember this being discussed but I appologize if I missed it >(I start to 'k' things after a while myself). I can't just plug it >in the wall 'cause that's not how it works. When you figure that it >looks even more like a bomb (complete with detonation wires (i.e. >power/SCSI cable)) than an external drive I think I may be better >off not even trying but I thought I'd ask first. Thanks in advance. Suggestion 1: Pad it in a T-shirt, pack it near the middle of your suitcase/pack/what-have-you, and just check it with everything else. Suggestion 2: Carry-on. Just put it on the belt to be x-rayed with everything else. There has been a lot of fear expressed about loosing data to airport x-ray machines. I must have put hard disks, RAM disks, floppies, tape cartridges, everything under the Sun (er, I mean Mac) through the normal security x-ray conveyors dozens of times and never missed a byte. I did the "hand inspection" thing a couple of times and it was such a pain to set everything up and turn it on! I just x-ray everything now and simply don't experience problems. In fact, I've never heard ONE story, even second hand, about someone loosing data to airport x-rays. I think it is just a concept that concerned people mull around inside their heads and get worried about. On the other hand, I've never heard one factual statement to the fact that airport x-rays WILL NOT harm the data. Seems to be the case, though. --scott CLAIMER: I speak for everybody! :-O -- Scott Truesdell
KSBOLDUAN@amherst.bitnet (12/15/89)
In article <7597@portia.Stanford.EDU>, carter@portia.Stanford.EDU (Thomas J. Carter) writes: > OK, over the past few years I've heard the discussion of taking a > Mac or a hard drive through airport security, and the basic rule > of thumb is to be able to show them that it works (i.e. plug it > in and make it do SOMETHING). > Well, I haven't had to deal with an internal, but I've had to take my external through airports for three years now. I've always received a rather puzzled look, but I've always just sent it THROUGH THE X-RAY MACHINE. I've not had any problems with this. I've been told that the x-rays can't do any damage to the drive, but that the only thing to look out for is that the conveyor belt is operated with magnets, and that they might cause some problems. I've always just had my hard drive in a pack surrounded by towels for protetion and sent it right on through. The magnets must not be powerful enough to really make a difference. Have I just been playing Russian Roulette with my drive? If anyone knows of some ACTUAL dangers from the practice let me know. Otherwise I'll just send it on through. They can't make you show it "works" if you send it through the x-ray machine. Only if you want them to hand check it. I find it easier not to make a fuss. Usually they're busy enough that, once they see it under x-ray they'll either just let it go, or ask what it is and then let it go. Just my experience. Kevin Bolduan '91 Amherst College KSBOLDUAN@AMHERST Bitnet Address