Are Airport X-Rays Harmful To Certain Hard Drives?

An Anonymous Coward wishes to put this curious query before you all: "I have been through the airport many many times w/ my laptop and have never had any problems w/ losing my data on my 2.5" hard drive, but two work associates of mine have not had the same good fortune: they had both traveled and brought their destkop 3.5" drives with them and had their data compromised/destroyed as a result of having had them go through the standard carry-on luggage x-ray machine. The drives were not defective mechanically before having gone through just to clear up any misconceptions. Were these just fluke incidents or does the x-ray system @ airports actually destroy data on certain types of hard drives? Let's hear your opinions!" Any thoughts on this? Personally, I would think that desktop HDs would be more sensitive to the shocks and bumps inherent in travel than the X-ray machines at the airport.

Comments

Not the X-ray machine

[Lazarus Short]

Actually, it's much, much more likely that the x-ray machine is not the culprit at all. Remember that hard drives are magnetic in nature. X-rays are no more magnetically charged than the light from the light bulbs in your house. X-rays will erase highly sensitive photographic film, but that's about the sum total of damage that they could ever do to any of your stuff.

However, in close proximity to the X-ray machine is a device that makes use of strong magnetic fields: the metal detector. Carrying a laptop though one would almost certainly mess with the data on it (note that it wouldn't totally wipe the drive beyond recovery. If you think it'd do that, put down the Neal Stepenson book and take a break).

Now, metal detectors are supposed to be shielded from interfering with devices not going through them, but, needless to say, that's not always the case. It's more than possible a more sensitive than usual hard drive could be corrupted by just passing next to one.

For further reference, see Here, Here, and Here

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