Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!network!ucsd!orion.cf.uci.edu!uci-ics!zardoz!dhw68k!thecloud From: thecloud@dhw68k.cts.com (Ken McLeod) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Mac as airline hand baggage Message-ID: <25388@dhw68k.cts.com> Date: 12 Aug 89 17:28:56 GMT References: <30351@cornell.UUCP> <420009@hpbbm.HP.COM> <10938@polya.Stanford.EDU> Reply-To: thecloud@dhw68k.cts.com (Ken McLeod) Organization: Wolfskill & Dowling residence; Anaheim, CA (USA) Lines: 32 In article <10938@polya.Stanford.EDU> kaufman@Polya.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) writes: >In article <420009@hpbbm.HP.COM> bwolf@hpbbm.HP.COM (Bryan Wolf) writes: > >>Caveat regarding your data: NEVER (EVER EVER!) put your >>floppies through the X-ray thingie you have to walk through at >>security;... > >This has GOT to be on the way to becomming a new Urban Legend. First, there >are no X-rays emitted by the metal detector. Second, the electric field set >up by the detector coils is far too weak to erase a disk or tape. There is >no appreciable magnetic field, and anyway, magnetic fields attenuate as the >FOURTH power of distance. I carry a Jasmine external hard drive and several boxes of floppies in my briefcase (standard-type briefcase, no special shielding) with me as carry-on luggage, and have never had any data loss after putting them through the x-ray "conveyor belt" detector. I have also had a floppy in my pocket when walking through the metal detector "gate", and no data loss there either. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's always been photographic film that people should be paranoid about putting throught the x-ray box, not magnetic media. -k -- ========== ....... ============================================= Ken McLeod :. .: UUCP: ...{spsd,zardoz,felix}!dhw68k!thecloud ========== :::.. ..::: INTERNET: thecloud@dhw68k.cts.com //// =============================================