Airport X ray machines

[mark_l]

What effects do airport x-ray machines have on laptop computers or mobile stoage devices (phototainer/epson p200 etc)?

I know they can fog film, have no effect on memory cards but I am not sure about magnetic material.

Your advice on effects and precautions very much appreciated

[DWA]

Not had a problem with cameras, cards or laptop when flying to races. Plus a friend of mine who used to work for Shell, flew about 10-15 times a month all over the world with his laptop and had no problems with it. Would guess that the equipement in Brazil and Far East may be better/worse for doseage than Europe as well.

[redshoes]

No need to panic. X-rays will not damage a hard disk, or any other form of magnetic media.

You are more likely to have problems with metal detectors, especially the handheld ones, which work by generating a magnetic field. Even then the levels used are so small that you'd have to be in very close proximity for an extended period, and there would be no real reason for airport security to use a metal dector on a bag that they knew contained a laptop or electronic device.

[kdr]

i just spent 23 days going thru mag and bag at the olympics, probably on average about 5 times a day...with no discernable impact on laptops or flashcards. only drawback was continually removing all metal items and getting frisked by chain smoking caribinieri in sunglasses. loved it so much i'm off there again tomorrow for some more at the paralympics...have a good two weeks everyone.

[mark_l]

Many Thanks for all your advice.

[Peter Mallett]

All very well. But have you considered what it does to people?

[MagnetON]

Many years ago I worked for the "Micro" department of a large health authority, we decided to investigate the effects of medical x-rays on magnetic media. We bombarded a floppy disk with the maximum level of x-rays that the hospital machine could generate and there was no data corruption.