Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!guest From: guest@vu-vlsi.UUCP (visitors) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Do You Protect Portables/Disks in Air Travel? Message-ID: <1000@vu-vlsi.UUCP> Date: Fri, 24-Jul-87 19:37:24 EDT Article-I.D.: vu-vlsi.1000 Posted: Fri Jul 24 19:37:24 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jul-87 17:52:36 EDT References: <862@dasys1.UUCP> Reply-To: 164485913@excalibur.UUCP (Mark Schaffer) Organization: Villanova Univ. EE Dept. Lines: 28 Keywords: portables disks x-ray metal detector In article <862@dasys1.UUCP> axelson@dasys1.UUCP (Kevin Axelson) writes: >Can disk data be damaged by magnetic fields encountered during commercial air >travel (e.g. from screening devices or elsewhere)? > >If so, what is the best tactic for reducing the risk? Does anyone take extra- >ordinary measures with their hard-disk equipped laptops? > From what I understand about this topic, it is not so much the x-ray screening devices and the like that can damage the data on the disk as the conveyor-belt machine that is used to send all of the stuff through the x-ray machine. The conveyor-belt has quite a large motor, and if your disks travel over the motor, the data stored on them may be altered. I am not certain on the effects of this equipment on electronic devices such as portable computeres. Anyhow, I have found that the best way to avoid the damage (at least to the data on the disks) is to have them inspected by a security guard and not placed near the scanning machines. ============================================================================== | Mark Schaffer | BITNET: 164485913@vuvaxcom | | Villanova University | UUCP: ...{ihnp4!psuvax1,burdvax,cbmvax,pyrnj,bpa} | | (Go Wildcats!) | !vu-vlsi!excalibur!164485913 | ============================================================================== please respond/reply to the above addresses and not to guest@vu-vlsi.UUCP