Amazon Kindles and airport scanners
- Comet
- Posts: 6482
- Joined: 05 Jul 2003, 00:00
- Location: Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England
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Amazon Kindles and airport scanners
Do airport security scanners damage Amazon Kindles? I was hoping to take my new Kindle on holiday but my Mum said she had heard that they sometimes wiped the memories of Kindles.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise
Louise
Re: Amazon Kindles and airport scanners
The problem with the Kindle isn't memory related.
I haven't tried with a Kindle (since I don't have one) but since a Kindle uses regular flash memory I don't see why a Kindle would be more vulnerable then other devices. Loads of devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops are using flash memory. I've taken my iPad, Blackberry, iPhone, MBP with 600gb SSD through various scanners and none of them lost anything...
Now the problem with the Kindle/Kindle Touch is that it uses a so called "E-Ink" screen. E-Ink screens can be vulnerable to the static electricity produced by an x-ray machine and yes while the manufacturer says that the Kindle can withstand this there are cases known where the "E-Ink" is ruined and the screen becomes unreadable. The best thing one can do is leave the Kindle in a bag and not openly expose the kindle to the machine. A small layer of protection seems to prevent damage, so let your kindle in your bag (some people tend to take everything out for the x-ray, no need to do this) and you'll be fine.

I haven't tried with a Kindle (since I don't have one) but since a Kindle uses regular flash memory I don't see why a Kindle would be more vulnerable then other devices. Loads of devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops are using flash memory. I've taken my iPad, Blackberry, iPhone, MBP with 600gb SSD through various scanners and none of them lost anything...
Now the problem with the Kindle/Kindle Touch is that it uses a so called "E-Ink" screen. E-Ink screens can be vulnerable to the static electricity produced by an x-ray machine and yes while the manufacturer says that the Kindle can withstand this there are cases known where the "E-Ink" is ruined and the screen becomes unreadable. The best thing one can do is leave the Kindle in a bag and not openly expose the kindle to the machine. A small layer of protection seems to prevent damage, so let your kindle in your bag (some people tend to take everything out for the x-ray, no need to do this) and you'll be fine.

- Comet
- Posts: 6482
- Joined: 05 Jul 2003, 00:00
- Location: Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England
- Contact:
Re: Amazon Kindles and airport scanners
Thanks bralo20
I wasn't sure and I wanted to be on the safe side before I took the Kindle anywhere.

Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise
Louise