Hi everyone. I have a question about traveling with computer components. I'll be carrying a hard drive and DVD-ROM (for a friend's computer) in my carry on. Do I need to remove this with my laptop for separate screening? Maybe some of you TSA folk can weigh in on this.

I'm not comfortable checking it considering the way baggage is handled in most major airports. Thanks in advance for any feedback on this topic.

I travel with an HDD quite regularly, and I've never had to pull it out.

Wow...fast response! Thanks! I already kinda knew the answer but wanted to be sure it will not be an issue. Thanks again! ^

The HD isn't required to be removed but depending how much electronics is in your bag it may have to be looked at/searched.

I should also add... I've travelled with up to 5 HDD's without having to remove them.

Here's what happened to a friend of mine recently in the UK: He travelled with a 3.5" external hdd and at security they didn't believe him it was a hard drive as it was "too big"!

I see. So what DID they think it was? A bomb? Maybe they were confusing the external hard drive with some type of USB flash drive? In any case it's rather frightening that agencies employee individuals who are obviously technologically ignorant and give them the authority to make decisions based on that ignorance. I don't anticipate any issues but I'll be prepared should I encounter a screener looking for a "big catch" or simply wanting an excuse to paw around in my bag. Sigh....

Be sure to encrypt your hard drive prior to travel in case someone gets sticky fingers or you lose it. That is, unless the drive is blank.

It's blank. The previous owner (a computer shop owner) runs diagnostics and wipes all used drives to NSA standards before selling them. Thanks for the tip and others should take note so their personal data does not fall into unsavory hands.

You should not have to remove it. YMMV, of course.

I was lectured by a TSO at ... hmm, I think it was ORF ... for not removing my portable hard drive. "Sir! We asked that all large electronics be removed!" she said. "We'll make an exception this time, but you really need to take this out next time."

At MRY, they were training a new TSO, and she was having issues with my bag on the x-ray machine; she kept running it through and getting confused about what she was seeing. The trainer pointed out, "No, that's just a large hard drive. See the other camera gear? Photographers often travel with stuff like that--no need for a bag check." ^

You've got me beat! The most I've flown with, counting the one in my laptop, is four. Two large, powered external drives, and one small one powered off of USB.

That wasn't counting the one in my laptop.. lol.

To be fair though, 4 of them were brand new and in retail packaging, as I had bought them while on quickie Miami shopping trip. I also had a printer miraculously shoved in my carry-on backpack this trip.

Not to hijack the thread, but as a photographer, sometimes it's good to put all your photo files onto USB thumb drives as well. Those never get looked at because they're small and plastic. They're shockproof too.

Good suggestion!

Unfortunately, my camera memory cards tend to exceed typical USB thumb drives. 8GB CF card in one, 4GB card in the other.

Thus, I travel with a 500GB drive most times I expect to be gone more than a day or two.

Just an update: I traveled out of TRI on March 11 and was asked to remove my hard drive. The guy in front of me was an IT guy who had a variety of gadgets. He had to remove ALL of his electronics. I was also given a secondary because I had so many coins (foreign currency) and electronics. There was nothing out of the ordinary in my bag. The electronics consisted of a digital cam, spare batteries, iPod, hard drive, wires and accessories. I was also told that only one lighter is allowed per traveler. I'm not sure if this is a policy specific to TRI TSA or if it's an 'official' policy that is just overlooked in other airports. (As usual the TSA site doesn't really specify how many are allowed and policies vary from place to place) Nonetheless, I lost a lighter. It was one of THREE stored in my carry on. They totally missed the third one and I didn't go out of my way to surrender it.

The lady in charge seemed to be on a major power trip. I was fortunate to deal with a TSO who was friendly, with a "just doing my job" attitude. It was the senior officer who sent me for the secondary and ordered my bag x-rayed a grand total of three times.