🚀 go-pugleaf

hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dagwood splits the Atom) writes:

[...]
>>> Can computer disks with data on them go thru the 
>>> airport security x-ray machines.
>>> 
[...]
>the casual observer.  But where on earth is the evidence that x-rays will
>damage magnetic media?  I thought NBS (now NIST) put this rumor to rest
>years ago by thoroughly exposing several tapes and floppies in a research
>reactor with no resultant loss of data.  Airport data loss is usually
>attributable to either the metal detectors or to some x-ray machines' power
>supplies.

I've heard some of the same things about floppy damage, although my source
is somewhat less reliable.  A columnist for MacUser magazine once decided
to do a test to determine how Mac floppies are affected...  He found that
while a single pass through the machine at his local internation airport
did no damage, repeated passes eventually caused errors on all his floppies.
His conjecture was that is was probably not the x-rays themselves that
were causing the damage, but something else about the scanner.  It could
well be the power supply.

The answer?  Maybe they hurt floppies.  Why take the risk?
-- 
Barry E. Brown        --        \  Cal-Animage Beta publicity officer
bebrown@ucsd.{edu,uucp,bitnet}   \   Anime Stuff FTP Server administrator
Somewhere in San Diego, CA.....   \    (ftp network.ucsd.edu [128.54.16.3])
"Kaeshite! Kaeshite! Kaeshitekaeshitekaeshite!  -- Azusa (Ranma 1/2)