Do X-Ray Machines Damage Memory

If you travel with your digital camera, you may be worried that airport x-ray machines may damage photographs on your digital camera memory or even the memory cards themselves.

Relax! Though I cannot give a 100% guarantee, everything I have read in books, on the Internet, and in magazines states that these machines do not have an adverse affect on such cards, unlike film.

If you are still concerned, you may want to consider archiving your digital camera photos to compact disks before returning on an airplane. This provides an extra level of backup and should ease your mind.

To ease your concerns, the I3A (International Imaging Industry Association) released a press release on December 15, 2004, regarding tests on digital camera media performed by the imaging industry and United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA). In it, they state that x-ray machines used by the TSA should cause no damage to digital media, whether or not the media is in checked or carry-on bags.