Compact Flash and SD cards - and airport x-rays

Has anybody had any problems with putting Compact Flash and SD cards throught

the airport carry on x-ray machines?

 

Any problems with the luggage x-ray machines?

X-ray machines are not magnet-loaded devices: no effect on memory chips. [but if you put your SD card on a very large loudspeaker, chances are you will need to see what happens from the magnetic interaction.]

From FAA.gov: "Camera Equipment - the checked baggage screening equipment will damage undeveloped film in camera equipment. We recommend that you either put undeveloped film and cameras containing undeveloped film in your carry-on baggage or take undeveloped film with you to the checkpoint and ask the screener to conduct a hand-inspection. (See below)" Nothing about digital memory but just to be safe, I'd keep it in your carryon. (http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm#3)

Look under electronic devices.

 

Carolyn

Forgot to mention that I have put my SD cards through the carry-on x-ray machines on both domestic and international flights (this past Sept.) without a hitch.

 

Carolyn

Took my SD cards through the carry-on scan to Japan with no problems. Same with my

MiniDV tapes, no problem going through the carry-on scanners. I don't check any electonics.

 

Dave

There's no problem with xray scanners, either in checked or carry-on baggage. I wouldn't put them in my pockets and walk through the magnetomers at the airport (the gate-like things you walk through at security). I've never heard of a problem with airport xray equipment and memory. However, as the transistor size gets smaller and smaller with higher density memories there could come a time when that's a problem. I've put 4 gig CF cards thru in carryon baggage with no problem. Happy travels! Bob

In the US, western Europe, Japan, and Australia, the gate security x-ray machines work like an electronic flash - a pulse is used to generate the onscreen image. So little radiation is used that film isn't harmed unless it goes thru an awfully large number of times. Checked baggage goes thru a CT scan that delivers 200-300 millirem, and that will ruin film.

 

But computer chips aren't affected - theoretically, a photon could happen to hit a spot just right to flip a zero to a one or vice versa, but you'd have a bad time trying to find it in the image.

 

In "third world" countries, things are different. They use the old continuous beam x-ray machines (mostly old hand-me-downs from us), but the radiation isn't the problem - the tube can emit a pretty good magnetic field in the course of producing the x-rays. Putting cards in your pocket will probably get you caught in the metal detector and could cause serious hassles and maybe a missed flight. Best to save your images onto CD before you get to the airport so you don't have to worry.

Concerning Bob Flood's answer, take it with a pinch of salt, it is as outdated as the term "Third World" he uses to generalise the technology used in certain blocs of the world. In any case, the most educated way to refer to what used to be called "Third World" is "Developing World", for developing it is.

 

Well, my advice is not to generalise, each airport is a different case even in the **developed world** BUT from my experience traveling around South East Asia and South America, nothing of the likes of getting memory cards wiped out ever happened to me. I travel with a 200GB Lacie hard drive, a 2nd Generation iPod, 2 laptops, several FlashCards (with pictures taken from the plane, of course) and everything gets back alright.

 

Concerning hassles caused by metal detectors delaying flights, Bob where have you been flying to, mate? Are we talking about flights before or after the fall of the Berlin wall?

 

Well, if it ever occurs that a CF card prompts an alarm (outside and, I imagine, inside the US as well) take the card out of the pocket put it in the tray and pass trough the gate again, tell the man with the handheld metal detector you are having a nice day when he asks you and get ready for the trip. Also, please remember that since there is a war going on, it is advisable to arrive 4hours before the gate closes, just in case. I always check in online to save even more time, I advise you do the same.

 

My advice is if you ever ever ever get through a scanning machine that wipes out your flash card, run to the closest radiation decontamination centre you find and avoid having babies for a while. That also applies to BA flights from and to Russia ;).

 

Regards,

 

--Luis

Sorry I didn't use YOUR favorite phrase for third world/developing world. Nevertheless, you knew what I was talking about.

 

When the US and others insisted that airport security be upgraded to include x-ray and metal detection, most of the poorer countries agreed based on the US providing the hardware. We did - our old stuff that we replaced with the pulsed x-rays systems. The pulsed systems were developed to reduce weight - less shielding required means much lower weight, and when you have to install a battery of them in a large airport, that weight is a serious structural issue.

 

Been thru gate security in South Africa? Argentina? Georgia (former USSR)? The expectation is that you will have removed anything that can cause an alarm - so an alarm is a big deal. People do miss flights getting it sorted out.

 

And the kind of radiation field necessary to wipe out a memory card would kill the person carrying it. Tests on computer chips at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory found them to be pretty much impossible to fry except at megarad doses, the kind that would not only kill a mammal, but sterilize the remains such that there'd be no decay. If a pass thru a machine causes a problem with a card, it was magnetism, not radiation that caused it.

... if you happen to have metallic pins in your spine as I have. Worry not, they will not set off any alarms either.

 

-Luis

Hi Bob,

 

I think now we are getting the kind of information that is useful:

 

"Been thru gate security in South Africa? Argentina? Georgia (former USSR)? The expectation is that you will have removed anything that can cause an alarm - so an alarm is a big deal. People do miss flights getting it sorted out."

 

The above info is good to know and as useful as it can be. If I may add to the list: India charges 35% import tax if you bring two laptops, no matter the condition and age of the machines, anyone with an extra laptop will be charged 35% the price of a new one (!), something between 17,000 to 20,000 rupees. People say Pakistan has the same policy. Beware because they just tell you when you are already close to India, and just in the small print of the boarding pass.

 

For one to escape the Indian customs, get a letter from work declaring that one of the laptops belongs to your company and it is for business use, this may vary according to the visa, I had this problem while entering the country with a Business Visa, not sure whether it would be any easier for Tourist Visa holders.

 

Anyone else could add another country with peculiar import or check in policies?

 

Cheers,

 

Luis

"... if you happen to have metallic pins in your spine as I have. Worry not, they will not set off any alarms either."

 

True for pins, not for artificial joints. My hip has set off every airport metal detector I've gone thru since 2002 (when I got the hip).

 

Other places: I have a friend who has travelled to Taiwan and South Korea in the past 4 months, and he had no problems taking a lot of electronics, but all of it was clearly marked with the name of his company. He had similar experiences in eastern Europe (Romania and Bulgaria) about a year ago. He took his personal camera, too, and had no issues come up.

"True for pins, not for artificial joints."

 

Hi Bob, many thanks for the clarification. Hope you had a good New Year.

 

Cheers, Luis