Computer stuff and air travel - help!

[Sputnik]

I'm going to be going away in the next week and for the first time will be taking a laptop and an external hard drive with me.

So the question is can I put the external hard drive in my hold luggage or does it have to go into my hand luggage? I've looked on the british airways site and can't find the answer.

P.S. I remember seeing the thread of someone saying can I take a hard drive on holiday - to be answered by " you'd be better off taking your girlfriend"

[TheAnimus]

it can go in your hand luggage, it depends where your going as to if you want to bring it thou.

Places like the USA, been the land of the free, are known to like to examin all contents of HDDs.

[Funkstar]

By all means put it in the hold luggage. If you don't need it on the flight it's one less thing to have to carry. laptop I would always keep on me, don't trust baggage handlers.

[Lucio]

Don't the airport x-ray scanners pose a risk of wiping data to portable HDD's though?

[b0redom]

No - they're safe.

[Funkstar]

If it posed a risk to external drives, it would pose a risk to laptops as well. Millions of business travellers would know of the problems by now if this was the case.

[Clunk]

If you're going Ryanair, it's much more expensive if you want to take a hard drive with data on it.

[Funkstar]

Don't the airport x-ray scanners pose a risk of wiping data to portable HDD's though?

and further to my previous replay: not to mention the iPod and other hard drive based MP3 player users that to millions of flights a year.

[Funkstar]

If you're going Ryanair, it's much more expensive if you want to take a hard drive with data on it.

Have they started charging more per track on an iPod yet?

As we all know, a hard drive weighs more when full: http://forums.hexus.net/general-disc...ncreasing.html

[Whiternoise]

I took both a laptop and external HD with me on a BA flight to Poland. No problems either there or back. The laptop must be removed from your bag and into a separate box to be scanned (you can generally keep it sleeved though) when you go through security, but i left the portable HD in my rucksack.

Just take them on the plane, i wouldn't trust baggage handlers knocking your drive around.

[Sputnik]

Thanks all the exact answers I was hoping for. Even better now I've realised that my hand luggage weight limit is higher than I first thought.

[Mutley]

I travel regularly to the USA on business. NEVER put your laptop in the hold luggage, always carry it with you. You have to suffer the annoyance of carrying the extra weight and usually (although the rules keep changing every few months) getting the laptop out to be scanned at security (which is pefectly safe). However, when you consider that hold baggage gets thrown around by the handlers, and is subject to temperature extremes, its worth the hassle. Add to that the numerous tales of items of value being stolen from hold baggage by the handlers....

At our company, they require that you take laptops on board with you as well.

Muts.