I recall a comment somewhere that it was the motorised belts that move the luggage and not the xray. older motors may have a larger magnetic field and that's the cause. I guess you could put each tape in condom and swallow - I'll take the chance of a dropout

The security personnel at airports insist emphatically that the equipment will not damage your camera or tapes, but frankly, I think they'd tell you anything to shut you up. This is something I'd probably not worry about too much unless it was really, really important footage, like a modern day Zapruder film or something.

I wouldn't recommend carrying your tapes on your person as you walk through the metal detectors. Those things are definitely producing a magnetic field to detect metal.

-gb-

While I still insist on wrapping my head in HD Reynolds wrap, this topic really doesn't answer the basic question. Urban legends go a long way with these topics. Zapruder films aside, the machines your carry on luggage go through are relatively low dosages and your tapes, films (800 ISO and lower), equipment etc are safe being exposed to them. Xray damage to high ISO film is fairly well documented. But damage to magnetic recording medium, LCD screens, CCD, CMOS sensors etc. is pretty far fetched. I challenge anyone to post a link to legitimate review that states X-rays damage the above medium or equipment.