Airport X-ray

[Tafia]

Hi Guys

Just a quick one....Do Airport X-Ray Machines cause damage to Laptops?

[phaethon]

Never had any damage done, never heard of any damage done to colleagues' laptops.

[G54]

Agree with Phaethon. Never had any damage done to the laptop or any data. They usuallyask if it is a laptop. Maybe they use a different level of scanning?

[Tafia]

Agree with Phaethon. Never had any damage done to the laptop or any data. They usuallyask if it is a laptop. Maybe they use a different level of scanning?

Thanks Guys

[IMA_FARANG]

Hi Guys

Just a quick one....Do Airport X-Ray Machines cause damage to Laptops?

Short answer...No, they are usually not strong enough to cause damage to any of the electronics/chips inside.

However, there is a always a possiblity. I've never had any damage, however.

If you carry your laptop on, you may be required to open it at the security checkpoint. Be sure your battery is fully charged, or at least to the point where you can turn it on and boot without the A/C plug in. My experience is that they will often require you to remove a laptop from the case, and turn it on until it boots up. At that point they won't make you put it through the x-ray scanner. However, every airport is slightly different.

Edited September 17, 2008 by IMA_FARANG

[NanLaew]

^ I remember that BA used to ask that the laptop be turned on. I was transiting through Gatwick from Dubai with 2 dud company laptops headed for warranty repair in the US. That wasted about 45 minutes of my life!

[britmaveric]

Safe/Sound

[phaethon]

Completely given up on flying with BA - bunch of wasters.

[soundman]

What about handy/thumb drives? and/or other mass storage devices including phone memeory?

[Tywais]

What about handy/thumb drives? and/or other mass storage devices including phone memeory?

Also not an issue. The energy level, intensity and time is actually quite low to effect the devices. I manage an electron beam particle accelerator (Linac) that generates xrays significantly higher in energy (20MeV) and intensity and for long periods with electronics in the accelerator vault with very rare failures.

Our CCD video cameras for beam monitoring do start showing damage to the sensor and so have a lot of "spots" on the video monitors now. But they've been in a high radiation environment for a long time and still are functioning.

[dingdongrb]

Have you ever wondered this question before?

Having traveled way too many times through way too many security checkpoints, why does security (most, not all) request that you remove your laptop from the carrying case?

I don't mean remove it to turn it on, but remove it so that it is not in a case/bag when it goes through the x-ray machine. I am not an x-ray expert but I can tell you that an x-ray machine can see through a vinyl or leather bag.

So does anyone know why?

[Wrong Turn]

Hi Guys

Just a quick one....Do Airport X-Ray Machines cause damage to Laptops?

No.

Otherwise you wouldn't be asked to put your laptop through one - liability.

[Tywais]

I would be more concerned about this.

Source: CBS News

[phaethon]

I would be more concerned about this.

Good job they spotted that - loading that backside on an aircraft would make it a hazard to navigation

As I understand it, because the radiation is so weak, the machines have difficulty seeing through certain things like laptops (the HD. battery etc.) so something dangerous like a nailfile of mass destruction could be hidden underneath a laptop.