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What should I be aware of when bringing a computer on an airplane?

general answers welcome but...

I'm particularly interested in:

  • Are computers bothered by X-ray machines or anything else that carry-on or checked baggage is exposed to?
  • What kind of red flags would packing a non laptop raise with the TSA?
  • Are there any setups known to work well for packing around larger system (like server scale)?
  • Has anyone seen one of those cases bands use to pack there sound equipment used to mount a server?

(In case you didn't spot it, I'm puzzling out what it would take to build a mobile server farm for fast, short notice deployment. FWIW it's more likely to end up in a story than on a plane)

Mark Henderson
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BCS
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7 Answers7

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What about data? According to this page, the TSA can take a copy of all your data for any reason without suspicion of wrongdoing when crossing the US border. The data may be shared with other agencies.

If you are shipping servers around, are you carrying commercially sensitive data that could harm your business if it got into the hands of your competitors?

geofftnz
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  1. No, X-rays are a-okay.
  2. The TSA considers it its job to freak out over irrelevancies (love me some security-theater-of-the-absurd), so expect to have someone poke through your server, probably with a salad fork.
  3. Yeah, FedEx.
  4. No.
chaos
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Modern x-ray machines pose no risk at all to magnetic media, they haven't since the early 80's in fact. What could still be a minor risk are the hand-held scanners that officials use on people but you really should have put anything that you care about in the tray by that point anyway. I have put a variety of laptops, iPods, cameras, camcorders etc. through airport x-ray machines well over a hundred times over twenty years with no issues whatsoever. Of course the proof is that there's no warnings about it being dangerous, no airport in their right mind would risk the law suits against them of not displaying if it was dangerous but they hadn't signposted it heavily. Enjoy your flight.

Chopper3
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  • Are computers bothered by X-ray machines or anything else that carry-on or checked baggage is exposed to?

No. Magnetic media is not affected. That applies to undeveloped photographic film.

  • What kind of red flags would packing a non laptop raise with the TSA?

Does it look like a bomb? Is it clearly accessable (openable)? Can it hide a bomb? I've seen CPAP machines receive swabs for explosive chemical tests because the TSA can't open it up to look in it.

Pack a regular bag if you can, and unzip it for them to look around. If it looks suspicious, then it is.

  • Are there any setups known to work well for packing around larger system (like server scale)?

Unless you cook up a homebrew setup of some kind (dolly cart, etc.) you're probably going to have a hard time. I certainly wouldn't put a server though luggage, that's a sure-fire way to end up with a box of broken contents. Maybe look into packing a powerful, high-end PC class board into a portable LAN party case that doesn't have blazing dragons and etched tattoos on it?

  • Has anyone seen one of these cases bands use to back there sound equipment used to mount a server?

Mobile 4-post racks, yes. Expensive, but if you do a lot of travel, it might be worth it. And you can certainly mount a 1, 2, 3, or 4u box. If you're willing to pay the price for this, be sure to include a UPS unit in it, there are several to be had that are rackmount-ready. Do this because you don't know the power situation ahead of time.

Avery Payne
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  1. I have never heard of a laptop hard disk being bothered by X-rays, and I've known of a lot of laptops going through a lot of X-rays, sometimes carry-on and sometimes checked. I would be very surprised to hear that a 3.5" hard disk is more susceptible to X-rays than a laptop 2.5" drive.
  2. The TSA can and do freak out about minor things, but you're not the only person carrying around a lot of computer equipment. The TSA primarily freaks out about things out of the ordinary. Something they see every week -- like a salesman carrying around a box of computer equipment in checked baggage for demos -- will not freak them out.
  3. When my company sends sales folks for demos, I see large padded boxes clearly made for carrying large heavy equipment. This stuff must be fairly routine for this kind of thing. Big boxes: like 3' high by 5' wide by 3+' deep. I assume they use checked baggage, but it's possible that they FedEx or otherwise avoid the airlines. They probably do whatever is cheapest. I recommend you do the same.
  4. Band equipment I don't know about.

NOTE: After every trip and before you power anything on, open up the servers and ensure that nothing has wiggled loose. I don't say this from experience but from paranoia. There may be some big bumps on the ride.

Eddie
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Try to act like a terrorist. Then they'll know you're not really a terrorist, because no real terrorist would actually act like a terrorist. Real terrorists would act like they are not terrorists, and the TSA knows this, so if you are trying to act like you are not a terrorist they will naturally assume you are one. :)

Kip
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I suspect that it may be cheaper to buy a ATA-approved shipping container and send the computer via UPS/FEDEX. I've sent computers overseas this way before. I think we got our shipping container from Time Motion Tools -- or one of the other tool vendors. Try Google with "computer shipping containers."

tvanfosson
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