What will happen if my camera and SD cards go through the airport x-ray and scanner?

[msnurse320]

What will happen if my digital camera and SD cards go through the airport x-ray and scanner? Will the magnetic fields and x-ray radiation affect them? I've read something concerning that but don't remember what was said.

 

[ndroo]

LOL! Nah, nothing will happen.

 

[Bowsersmom]

That's right - nothing will happen. I had gone to a Canon class given by a Canon rep. She said nothing will happen if they go through the scanner.

Deb
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20446885@N00/

 

[mishnogram]

I think many people have reported taking their cameras through the airports with no problems, myself included.

Laptops, cell phones, palmtops and blackberry's go through the airport all the time.

What will happen if my digital camera and SD cards go through the
airport x-ray and scanner? Will the magnetic fields and x-ray
radiation affect them? I've read something concerning that but
don't remember what was said.

--
Min

 

[cathyryan]

I heard, though, that the memory cards shouldn't go through the metal detectors because of how data is stored on the cards. Can anyone confirm this?

Cathy

 

[bdery]

I heard, though, that the memory cards shouldn't go through the
metal detectors because of how data is stored on the cards. Can
anyone confirm this?

I can certify that my camera traveled a lot this last Fall, went through at least 8 metal detectors, and nothing happened. NOTHING will happen to your camera, card, whatever, when you go through airport security. That myth comes from the fact that a roll of film, if going through X-rays often enough, would get a sort of white wash.

There is nothing dangerous for your electronics in airports, except for thieves.

Cathy

--
bdery

Québec city, Canada
C A N O N S 2
C O O L P I X S Q
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n13/bdery/

 

[SNGX1327]

i still hand my camera across the scanner to the security personell. just a habit from watching my father hand his old film SLR across back when i was a kid. will the x-rays screw with my electronics or my flash-written memory? probably not. but if he'll take the camera and inspect it himself, might as well.

only once someone asked me what speed film it was, i told him digital, and he told me to put it on the scanner. i removed the CF card and handed it to him. just in case

 

[PeterN]

Flash memory does use a highly concentrated electric field to program the cells but security metal detectors won't cause problems for memory cards.

You probably shouldn't take memory cards through a metal detector - you might trigger the detector & get searched.

Sandisk and the TSA conducted tests on both X-ray machines and metal detectors: http://www.compactflash.org/pr/041215.pdf

"Separate tests were conducted at the same facility to determine whether the walk-through metal detectors or hand-held metal detector wands have any effect on digital image storage media. As with the X-ray scanners, no damage to media or images was perceived from
either of these devices."

 

[Space Man]

My wife just lost her 32GB micro sdhc card due to an airport security scan. Her smartphone sd card worked before and was toast afterwards. The card was totally ruined, it could not even be reformated. Search on "SD Card airport security" and you will find that many have had the same experience.

I suspect their could be some connection between minaturization and risk. The cards damaged seemed to be the high capacity ones.

So, it's possible that it used to be safe to take SD cards through airport security. Now, it's usually okay to take them through. I don't know how many are destroyed, but it's likely a small percentage. The question is: "Are you okay with gambling?".

Be sure to back up your card frequently to minimize the extent of a loss.

 

[RDCollins]

I did what you suggested, and the first hit Google found says airport scanners do NOT affect memory cards (which is consistent with my extensive travel experience). Here's the link:

http://bit.ly/1O5UMMB

Moreover, it makes no sense that the cards would be affected by the scanners, and I suspect that reported problems are either coincidental (memory cards are notoriously unreliable) or pure urban legend.

 

[jefmcc]

Superpowers! They get superpowers!

What will happen if my digital camera and SD cards go through the airport x-ray and scanner? Will the magnetic fields and x-ray radiation affect them? I've read something concerning that but don't remember what was said.

 

[felix from the suburbs]

Nothing will happen. I have taken various brands of cameras and cards on trips and leave everthing in the camera bag as it goes through the scanner. Never had a problem yet.