Originally Posted by
sbm12
Absolutely unnecessary, though enforcement of the rules is subject to change at the whim of the TSO working the xray that day. Only full-sized electronics are required to be screened apart from anything else. A single HD does not qualify for this.
We travel with a "brick" hard drive and have been chastised a few times for not taking it out - once involving the screener removing it and dumping it in the bin like an old shoe. If you have anything really important on there I suggest you handling it yourself. While that is not the rule it happens often enough that it's a serious possibility.