carter@PORTIA.STANFORD.EDU ("Thomas J. Carter") (03/22/89)
I'm planning on taking my hard drive for a ride on a plane. I don't plan on letting it go through the x-ray machine, but if they insist will it cause a problem? Thanks in advance. Tom Carter Bitnet: carter@portia.stanford.edu
earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton) (03/22/89)
In article <CMM.0.88.606507161.carter@Portia.stanford.edu> carter@PORTIA.STANFORD.EDU ("Thomas J. Carter") writes: >I'm planning on taking my hard drive for a ride on a plane. >I don't plan on letting it go through the x-ray machine, but >if they insist will it cause a problem? Thanks in advance. I've tried this with floppies and 9" magtapes. I have also sent a computer-containing-harddrive through the checked-backage route. I have yet to lose any data to airline security precautions. Of far greater danger are the baggage-handlers, I think. The acid test would be to pass everything, including your box of floppy backups, through the x-ray machine. Not being excessively brave, I usually hand a box of floppies to the attendant to inspect by hand, plus leave a set at home. earleh:xyzzy:32768:7:Earle R. Horton,,,6434109:/hackers/earleh:/bin/rn
wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu (William M. Bumgarner) (03/22/89)
Even if they insist, refuse to do it... I know of people who have lost both floppies and hard drives to the x-ray machines. Whether or not it was the x-rays, or the magnetic fields from the belt motors is unknown. I have run the gauntlet of airport security several times-- some are cool about it, some are a pain in the ass. various cases: * let me through with just a hand-check of the hard drive/Mac bag. * asked me to power up the hard drive * asked me to power up hard drive and Mac * asked me to power up hard drive, when the hard drive didn't do anything paticularly exciting (I told them it wouldn't...), they told me to x-ray it. I refused. Eventually the chief of that airlines security came down and had me sign a 'Unusual device on concourse' form. * had me sign the form w/o all the other garbage Basically, if you keep your sense of humour about you, the whole experience could turn out to be quite amusing. I have posted a couple of messages summarizing a couple of my experiences. Without a sense of humour, it could be quite infuriating... Remember to take a power cord with the drive. b.bum wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu
arie@zippy.eecs.umich.edu (Arie Covrigaru) (03/22/89)
In article <CMM.0.88.606507161.carter@Portia.stanford.edu> carter@PORTIA.STANFORD.EDU ("Thomas J. Carter") writes: >I'm planning on taking my hard drive for a ride on a plane. >I don't plan on letting it go through the x-ray machine, but >if they insist will it cause a problem? Thanks in advance. > > >Tom Carter Bitnet: carter@portia.stanford.edu I am taking my hard disk with me all the time and let it pass through the x-ray machine. Nothing ever happened to it. I have a 45M MacBottom. Arie Covrigaru Cognitive Science and Machine Intelligence Laboratory University of Michigan C-2420 Business Administration Building 701 Tappan Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1234 Tel: (313) 763-5722 Email: arie@csmil.umich.edu
gould@pilot.njin.net (Brian Jay Gould) (03/22/89)
The small amount of X-rays used at airports really shouldn't be able to hurt a disk drive. I have passed dozens of magnetic tapes through airport security without a problem. -- I have a friend that was taking a rare hubcap to his father who collects antique cars. He had it wrapped in white paper. When aiport security wanted to X-ray it, he said, "you can't x-ray this! Its a circular demodulator!" They let him through without opening the wrapper or x-raying it. Frightening, isn't it? -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Brian Jay Gould :: INTERNET gould@pilot.njin.net BITNET gould@jvncc - - UUCP rutgers!njin!gould Telephone (201) 329-9616 - --------------------------------------------------------------------------s
pepke@loligo.uucp (Eric Pepke) (03/23/89)
When dealing with airport security, it also helps to carry business cards that contain the word "computer."
kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) (03/23/89)
In article <CMM.0.88.606507161.carter@Portia.stanford.edu> carter@PORTIA.STANFORD.EDU ("Thomas J. Carter") writes:
<I'm planning on taking my hard drive for a ride on a plane.
<I don't plan on letting it go through the x-ray machine, but
<if they insist will it cause a problem? Thanks in advance.
A couple years ago, when the Toshiba T3100 was still hot stuff, a friend
who writes many of their manuals took one of these machines to London. It
was no problem leaving, but on the way back they insisted that the machine
go through the X-ray or be checked in as baggage.
Not wanting to take a chance on losing her work, she refused to take it
through the X-ray. She never saw the machine again, (nor did Toshiba
who owned it). The eventual word that Toshiba handed down was that the
X-ray machine would not damage the hard disk. (Unfortunately, this
information still fails to make it into the documentation. Why don't manu-
facturers test their drives and make a statement about this one way or
the other?)
Shirley Kehrjfm@ruddles.sprl.umich.edu.engin.umich.edu (John F. Mansfield) (03/24/89)
In article <88494@felix.UUCP> kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) writes: >In article <CMM.0.88.606507161.carter@Portia.stanford.edu> carter@PORTIA.STANFORD.EDU ("Thomas J. Carter") writes: ><I'm planning on taking my hard drive for a ride on a plane. ><I don't plan on letting it go through the x-ray machine, but ><if they insist will it cause a problem? Thanks in advance. > I would have thought that the only danger to a hard disk when passed through an X-ray machine would be the close proximity of large motors running the conveyor belt. The X-radiation is not going to locally generate a high enough magnetic field to change information on the disk and the energy of the X-rays is not sufficient to cause detrimental ionizing effects in the disk medium. If there were sufficient energy, then all of the users of the equipment and the passengers would be getting doses of secondary radiation. I have passed hard disks through these machines without even thinking and also floppies (they are after all not really different) and have not had a problem. High speed film IS a problem, but magnetic media, I think not. However, I dont want a boatload of flames because people have taken their disks on a flight and then plugged them in at the end of their trip to find a "this disk is damaged" or "this disk is unreadable" dialog. If that happens, it is more liekly that the disk has been damaged by a physical shock than by X-rays. Who knows how firmly those heads are parked!! John Mansfield North Campus Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory 2455 Hayward, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2143. 313-936-3352 Internet: jfm@ruddles.sprl.umich.edu or john_mansfield.um.cc.umich.edu
soley@moegate.UUCP (Norman S. Soley) (03/26/89)
In article <QY9iCIy00WAKM12m5c@andrew.cmu.edu> wb1j+@andrew.cmu.edu (William M. Bumgarner) writes: >Even if they insist, refuse to do it... I know of people who have lost both >floppies and hard drives to the x-ray machines. Whether or not it was the >x-rays, or the magnetic fields from the belt motors is unknown. > >I have run the gauntlet of airport security several times-- some are cool about >it, some are a pain in the ass. and at least one (Detroit, if I remember correctly) gives you a simple choice, put everything through the x-ray or turn around and go home, they will show you (but not give you a copy for use as evidence in a suit if that became necessary) a printed form which says the x-ray machine won't hurt computers. -- Norman Soley - The Communications Guy - Ontario Ministry of the Environment Until the next maps go out: moegate!soley@ontenv.UUCP if you roll your own: uunet!{attcan!ncrcan|mnetor!ontmoh}!ontenv!moegate!soley
swerling@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ace Swerling) (03/29/89)
In article <211@moegate.UUCP> soley@moegate.UUCP (Norman S. Soley) writes: >and at least one (Detroit, if I remember correctly) gives you a simple choice, >put everything through the x-ray or turn around and go home, they will >show you (but not give you a copy for use as evidence in a suit if that >became necessary) a printed form which says the x-ray machine won't hurt >computers. >-- >Norman Soley - The Communications Guy - Ontario Ministry of the Environment I've taken my Mac SE through security at the Detroit airport several times. Each time they asked me what was in the bag. I opened it up, and told them it was a computer. They looked at it and let me go. I had floppies all over the place so maybe they were more inclined to believe me. I also look like the typical all-american college student so maybe that helped too, but I didn't have any hassles. -Ace
earhard@dalcsug.UUCP (Mark Earhard) (03/30/89)
In article <211@moegate.UUCP> soley@moegate.UUCP (Norman S. Soley) writes: >became necessary) a printed form which says the x-ray machine won't hurt >computers. Umm... does anyone have any problems with putting an SE through an X-ray machine? I might take my computer to Isreal this summer, and considering I'll be flying on EL-AL (tyhe most paranoid airline in the world, but for good reason) They'll want to see through EVERYTHING. Will X-Rays fry the Roms or E-Proms in the SE? Mark.