kind of a newbie question re: pb and security scans

i'm about to go on a flight in a couple days, this is the first time i've flown with my powerbook. i've heard people say that the security scan could mess up the harddrive etc, anything i should do to help prevent such a measure?

Security scans

TomyDingo said:

i'm about to go on a flight in a couple days, this is the first time i've flown with my powerbook. i've heard people say that the security scan could mess up the harddrive etc, anything i should do to help prevent such a measure?

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I have taken 4 flights with my powerbook no problems as yet, i did shut it down though rather than just put it to sleep.

This is such an old wive's tale its not even funny.
There is nothing in an airport security scan that will harm your computer.

First of all, the X-ray scanner will in no way harm your laptop as it is merely a different wave of light (more or less).

Secondly, the metal detector (the only thing that in any remote way that would affect your computer as it deals with magnetic fields) has such a low magnetic sensor, and that magnetic sensor only waves over the laptop for such an ultra brief period, would not have any affect on your computer.
Now, if they jacked up the magnetic force to the absolute maximum level, then let your PowerBook sit under it and "cook" for say like....2-3 hours....then maybe, just maybe, the magnetic field generated would cause some damage to the HD.

D3v1L80Y said:

Now, if they jacked up the magnetic force to the absolute maximum level, then let your PowerBook sit under it and "cook" for say like....2-3 hours....then maybe, just maybe, the magnetic field generated would cause some damage to the HD.

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This is very true...I've been told that ruining the data on a harddrive (with its case intact) would require a magnet more powerful than most people have access to, or a magnetic field more powerful than most devices can generate.

Basically, as D3v1...7...Q...er, Devilboy, put it, you'd have to let your harddrive bathe in a relatively strong magnetic field (in an MRI or CT machine at your local hospital's radiology department, maybe) for hours on end, or I guess you could take it down to the nearest junkyard & stick it to that giant electromagnet that lifts cars.

But as for the 15-second trip through the airport x-ray machine, you have nothing to worry about.