Going Through Security With External Hard Drive
 

Hi Everyone,

I will be moving to Nashville for a short-term relocation starting this weekend. I tend to carry precious electronics with me through security rather than check it in (i.e. PDA, laptops, etc), regardless of whether I need it in flight, just to feel safe about the devices' whereabouts.

Since I will be relocating, I anticipate on bringing two Maxtor external hard drives with me that I use as secondary storage. Does anyone know if the x-ray machines will nuke all the data on the drives? Is it safer to bring these drives with me, check it in, or just send it via a courier (FedEx, UPS)?

I just want to make sure my data is readable (un-nuked by the x-ray) and all in one piece when I get there (physically). Can anyone please advise? Thanks in advance!

-Bobby

The x-rays will not alter the data on your disks. There is a somewhat larger (but still small) risk from the mechanical shock and vibration associated with traveling; be sure to pack the drives nicely and handle them carefully.

Having said that, you should never have only one copy of any important data -- disks do fail, and usually at the least convenient time for your work.

X-ray's are not the risk, but the EM radiation generated by the x-ray machine. Since the drive is housed in a metal shell, that shell will act as a faraday cage to protect the data stored on the drive platters within. Unless TSA tells you to go long and you drop the pass, your data will be fine.

Another vote for the X-ray machine being harmless. Plenty of us carry laptops through all the time--and there's no fundamental difference between a laptop HD and a external HD. The laptops just have miniature versions of them--admittedly slower and smaller than desktop units.

Thank you!

I really appreciate all of the replies. I did have a few follow up questions though:

1) Will a large metal casing of the drive appear as something dangerous on the x-ray monitor? In other words, will I be pulled over for secondary screening? Anyone have experience with this?

2) I've definately had a few laptop hard drives fail on me because of shock and vibration, with one time, the needle reading the drive actually snapping off inside the drive. Is there any safe way to "park" the drive from not moving (internally)? I'm leaning on no, because all the ext. HD manufacturers just put the ext. HD in some formed styrofoam and into a box for shipment, but I'd like to get your opinion on this.

Thanks again!

1. No, they're used to seeing all sorts of crap.
2. Any modern USB external/laptop hard disk will be self parking. As long as everything is packed in a nicely protected manner, you'll have no problems.

My laptop got onto no less than 50 planes with me (including a couple of knocks while taking it out of the bag in a hurry in the security line) and still gives me no problems.

Edited to add: Don't forget to back up all your valuable data to a few DVDs (twice never hurts).

(1) no

(2) no

Zillions of internal and external HDD are bumping along every day on the TSA airport belts with nil problems. Dont worry about it.

MisterNice

I have taken upwards of 20 hard drives through security and the TSA did not flinch beyond "wow - thats a lot of hard drives".

I've got a couple of small externals in my LT case--they've never drawn an inspection.

Yeah, HD's are delicate beasts. It's a direct tradeoff between ruggedness and speed--that's one reason LT drives have poor performance compared to desktop units. It's also why the storage on my keychain is flash instead of a miniature HD.

As for parking the drive--that's been automatic on powerdown for many years now. It helps (a parked drive is less vulnerable than an unparked one) but there's no such thing as a perfect defense.

How were you able to carry that many hard drives through security? I have only one external hard drive, and it is rather bulky to carry.

My guess (not positive) is that poster carried "naked" hard drives in a pelican-type case or rollaboard. Naked hard drives are actually pretty small (laptop ones are downright tiny).

Hmm 20 drives x 60GB (if laptop drives) = 1200GB=1.2TB
20 drives x 150GB (if desktop drives) = 3000GB=3.0TB

Impressive-RAID anyone?

150's??

For some time now I've been running 8x250gb in a RAID array.

I was going with a conservative estimate. I didn't know if the poster was talking about an experience last week or 5 years ago.

I'm not very up to date on desktop specs. Alas, my laptop has much less than even 150GB (actually, I don't think I've seen a 120GB+ laptop hard drive)

Recent Trip
 

I recently traveled to China with a 60GB ext HD and went through security in 6+ airports including IAD and ORD with no problems.

Yes, we do use special cases to haul the drives and they are typically 200GB drives without enclosures.

Why? Well, I work for a legal technology consulting firm that specializes in computer forensics, data harvesting and electronic data discovery. It is not out of the question for us to manage 5+ TBs worth of data for our clients.