Many users who travel or plan on traveling may be concerned about their laptop computers, or the media holding their important data getting damaged or erased when putting them through an X-ray machine at an airport. X-ray machines emit an electromagnetic energy, which is not magnetic, and does not damage or destroy electrical equipment or magnetic sensitive data. Taking a laptop, hard disk drive, flash media, or other magnetic sensitive device through a metal detector can cause damage. In addition to metal detectors if your laptop is improperly handled while traveling it too can cause damage. We always recommend users carry their laptops on the plane with them.
All optical discs are not affected by X-rays and will not be damaged or erased when sent through an X-ray machine. Unlike traditional film that can be damaged by X-rays, the flash cards used to store the pictures created by your digital camera are not sensitive to light and will not be damaged when going through an X-ray.
Hard disk drives are only sensitive to magnetic charges, taking a hard disk drive or computer with a hard disk drive through an X-ray will not damage the drive.
