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How to save HDDs in travel ??

Anas Dweik
By Anas Dweik
in Storage Devices
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Go to solution Solved by aisle9,
Just now, phongle123 said:

So this includes hard drives inside of a laptop which they would x-ray?

Yes, hard drives inside of laptops go through many millions of times a day, and there's no rash of drive failures as soon as people plug in at the gate. There was a very brief period of utter stupidity right after 9/11 when the hard drive was supposed to come out, but that never actually happened because passengers didn't know how to remove it and screeners didn't either. Instead, they just turned the laptop on, then hard crashed it.

 

You want to mess your laptop up going through airport security? Do that to it a few times a week.

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Hi guy. 

I am traveling soon  and i want to take my PC part with me , do you have any idea how to save HDDs from damage? because they are really sensitive 

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Hard drives, when off, park their heads to prevent damage to the platters.

Wrap them in bubble wrap, and don't let them through X-RAY machines, have them hand checked instead, and you'll be fine

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Hard drives, when off, park their heads to prevent damage to the platters.

Wrap them in bubble wrap, and don't let them through X-RAY machines, have them hand checked instead, and you'll be fine

my backpack is going to X-RAY too so ?

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Assuming you are in the US, you have the right to have your gear all hand checked, rather than through the XRAY machine.

I do this all the time with my photography gear and film.

They hate doing it, but it's a valid request.

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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2 minutes ago, Anas Dweik said:

my backpack is going to X-RAY too so ?

You can put hard drives through an airport x-ray. If you couldn't, there would be a lot of really, really pissed off laptop owners out there.

Aerocool DS are the best fans you've never tried.

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2 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

You can put hard drives through an airport x-ray. If you couldn't, there would be a lot of really, really pissed off laptop owners out there.

that's what i thought , but i am really scared

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3 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

You can put hard drives through an airport x-ray. If you couldn't, there would be a lot of really, really pissed off laptop owners out there.

You *can*, but why take the chance? There are a lot of assumptions at play with an xray machine (is it calibrated correctly, does the TSA guy know how to operate it properly/know what he's looking for, etc) and it's much easier to hand check the gear. You'll get funny looks, but it's your right.

 

 

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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Just now, Anas Dweik said:

that's what i thought , but i am really scared

I've done it many, many times with laptop HDDs, portable HDDs and a WD Green drive that I used to dump hundreds of GB of files needed for various conferences and client meetings onto. Millions upon millions of people take a laptop with a mechanical HDD through airport security every day.

Aerocool DS are the best fans you've never tried.

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In addition, I'd ensure I have a full backup of any important data stored elsewhere (ie not with you) just in case.

There are no shortage of horror stories out there...

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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Just now, Radium_Angel said:

You *can*, but why take the chance? There are a lot of assumptions at play with an xray machine (is it calibrated correctly, does the TSA guy know how to operate it properly/know what he's looking for, etc) and it's much easier to hand check the gear. You'll get funny looks, but it's your right.

 

 

TSA guys are many things. Many, many things. Trust me, I have a long and checkered history with them. One thing they are not is incompetent with their machinery's operation. I'd be more worried about a screener deciding to plug it in and make sure the drive isn't full of plans to nuke Washington than I would putting it through the x-ray. It's an extra, unnecessary step that opens up more problems than it solves when a clueless agent asks what this compact, heavy metal object you're handing them is.

 

Source: me. It's so, so much easier to just leave it in your bag.

Aerocool DS are the best fans you've never tried.

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8 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

You can put hard drives through an airport x-ray. If you couldn't, there would be a lot of really, really pissed off laptop owners out there.

So this includes hard drives inside of a laptop which they would x-ray?

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2 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

TSA guys are many things. Many, many things. Trust me, I have a long and checkered history with them. One thing they are not is incompetent with their machinery's operation. I'd be more worried about a screener deciding to plug it in and make sure the drive isn't full of plans to nuke Washington than I would putting it through the x-ray. It's an extra, unnecessary step that opens up more problems than it solves when a clueless agent asks what this compact, heavy metal object you're handing them is.

 

Source: me. It's so, so much easier to just leave it in your bag.

Safe in X-ray ? in bag?

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Just now, phongle123 said:

So this includes hard drives inside of a laptop which they would x-ray?

Yes, hard drives inside of laptops go through many millions of times a day, and there's no rash of drive failures as soon as people plug in at the gate. There was a very brief period of utter stupidity right after 9/11 when the hard drive was supposed to come out, but that never actually happened because passengers didn't know how to remove it and screeners didn't either. Instead, they just turned the laptop on, then hard crashed it.

 

You want to mess your laptop up going through airport security? Do that to it a few times a week.

Aerocool DS are the best fans you've never tried.

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1 minute ago, Anas Dweik said:

Safe in X-ray ? in bag?

Yes, the x-rays used in American airport baggage screening equipment will not hurt your hard drive.

Aerocool DS are the best fans you've never tried.

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