On the Bookshelf at O.N.Z.C.D.A™

‡

Click large or small 'A' to increase or decrease font size.

With Christmas and New Year looming closer many computer users will be traveling via airplane to go visit family and friends and along with everything else, they will probably be taking certain devices such as digital cameras, cell phones, MP3 players or even possibly flash drives. No matter what people take with them it is important to know what is needed to be done to keep all of the electronic equipment safe whilst traveling. The biggest concern when it comes to traveling with your electronic devices is the airport security line. There has always been a fear that when you send your media through the X-ray machine everything you have saved will be erased or damaged. For example: if you send your digital camera through, will all of the pictures you have saved be demolished? Or, how about your MP3 player or iPod? Will all of your songs be erased with one quick swipe? It is really scary to think about that happening but luckily, it rarely does. Fortunately, most airports think about that kind of thing beforehand. Airport X-ray machines actually emit an electromagnetic energy which is not magnetic at all. Therefore they cannot damage or destroy any electrical equipment. This goes for laptops, CDs, DVDs, PDAs, memory cards, floppy disks, flash drives, external hard drives, MP3 players, iPods, digital cameras, cell phones and just about anything else you can think of.

Top of Page

‡CDs and DVDs - This includes all of the different types of CDs and DVDs including R and RW. Any type of optical disk cannot be affected by an X-ray machine and they will not be damaged or erased when passing through the security check.

‡Laptops, PDAs and other types of computers - These types of devices are not sensitive to X-rays, which means they will not be affected. The same goes for all of the components within them as well ( motherboard, graphics card, video card etc. )

‡Flash media - This includes any type of storage device you may use for your digital camera. Memory cards are not sensitive to light which means they will not be affected when passing through an X-ray machine. As you probably know film can be damaged when hit with light, so if you were to X-ray a film camera the images would be erased.

‡Floppy disks - Floppies are affected by magnetic charges but since airport X-ray machines don't carry any magnetic energy at all they will be safe. Unless you run a magnet over the metal area on your floppy disk the data you have saved will not be destroyed.

Top of Page

‡Hard disk drives - This category includes flash drives, thumb drives, external hard drives etc. These all work very similarly to a floppy drive so even though they are sensitive to magnetic charges an X-ray machine will not affect the material you have saved on them.

‡Other electronics - This section includes MP3 players, iPods, digital cameras, cell phones and any other devices you can think of. Unless the manufacturer of your device states an item is affected by X-rays, the data you have saved will not be lost. Certain products may be different so make sure you read through your user manual before taking anything like this through an airport X-ray machine.

IMPORTANT - In reference to the above information we are writing about an X-ray machine and not a metal detector. They are two different things and airports usually have both. Metal detectors can sometimes damage electronic devices so you'll want to make sure you let the security personnel at your airport know you are carrying a sensitive device. If you do that they should be able to hand check your items for you so that you do not have to risk putting them in danger. Make sure you are always aware of which machine you are going through and how it will affect the items you brought with you. If you do that, your flying experience will be a pleasant one.