traveling to usa with hdd full of movies?
August 9th, 2016
i am going to move to the usa next month and i wanted to take my external 250 gb hdd (many movies on it) with me.
but i am not sure if thats a good idea,what if they open my bag and check the hdd? i think they have way bigger problems than checking peoples hdd,but i just want to be sure,you never know.
how do you guys handle that when you travel and want to take your external hdd filled with movies with you?
Just encrypt it (with tool like TrueCrypt) and if they ask say that you forgot the password, lmao.
And I doubt they will check it..
Just encrypt it (with tool like TrueCrypt) and if they ask say that you forgot the password, lmao.
And I doubt they will check it..
Agreed, chances of them actually checking your HDD is slim, but always look on the other side of the issue, would you check it?
Encrypt the movies and hope the whole way to USA that they don’t check!
I always encrypt my data when travelling. That way, my data remains safe and private, even if it falls into the wrong hands.
Always encrypt data when travelling. BitLocker from Windows 7 is very good or otherwise TrueCrypt.
OR u can SH1TF+DELETE !!!! I m just saying lol !!!!!
If you get stopped at customs they COULD check it… The same as your camera, to make sure there are no illegal pictures they have the right to see them…
The same with porn They will check DVD’s to make sure there is nothing illegal :mrredhat:
would you guys risk it or should i just buy a new hdd in the usa and start a new collection from there? could they crack the truecrypt encoding or something like that?
No they can’t crack / hack TrueCrypt.
You could always send it to your self via the mail then they don’t have the need to check its content…
has anyone actually heard of someone getting checked?
Use the Blowfish/Serpent/AES triple encryption in TrueCrypt with a really long key (for example, something like out from one of Shakespeare’s plays plus a lot of random numbers like the value of pi). They’ll have to send your HDD to the NSA then…
Only what I seen on TV lol and with the latests Terror attacks I guess they will check anything they can…
Use the Blowfish/Serpent/AES triple encryption in TrueCrypt with a really long key (for example, something like out from one of Shakespeare's plays plus a lot of random numbers like the value of pi). They'll have to send your HDD to the NSA then...
Indeed and they would most likely fail aswell , nope never.
I am sure the F.B.I have keys for them lol.
sending it to myself via the mail is a good option,the possibility of someone checking it then should be much less than if i take it with me on a flight,right?
I travel fairly frequently with a laptop and several external drives and have never seen or heard of anyone’s hard drive being inspected. They are looking for weapons/explosives, not illegal data. Don’t worry about it. Have a nice trip.
where do you keep your external drives,do you take them with your hand baggage or do you leave them with the normal baggage?
i was thinking about keeping the hdd in the original packaging,envelop it into gift wrap paper and keep it in my normal baggage.i dont know if thats a good idea or not
If it would be North Korea, then I wouldn’t do it…
I have traveled to the US many times and they never look at my laptop or external HDD
I have traveled to the US many times and they never look at my laptop or external HDD
Same here Iam a truck driver from Canada and cross the border each week to work, I have my laptop with 30 movies on it an a spindle of 50 more movies, they if they ever checked they would only be interested in Porn or Kiddie porn,
unless you have 50 copies of Avatar or something like that then they would probally say something
where did you keep the external hdd?
where did you keep the external hdd?
in my laptop bag with my laptop, the only time my laptop was checked was on the way to Canada and it was for the photos, they wanted to see the content of,besides if you live in Canada thet have the free air rule, I dont know if they would say anything on the U.S side worse is they would do is keep your hard drive
Use the Blowfish/Serpent/AES triple encryption in TrueCrypt with a really long key (for example, something like out from one of Shakespeare's plays plus a lot of random numbers like the value of pi). They'll have to send your HDD to the NSA then... I don’t get it. If the key is very long and random, you can’t remember it. So you have to write it down on paper, on internet, on your pc or some place. So the person that wants the files really badly just has to find the code. It’s of no use to throw it away since you won’t be able to retrieve your files as well.
Or am I wrong?
They won’t be the least bit interested in an external HDD, only what’s inside the casing which would be revealed by the X-ray scan.
so what would be the better idea,to take it with my hand luggage or to keep it in the normal luggage?
Keep it in your laptop bag and stop worrying. Its NOT a problem.
Don’t try it, you’re setting yourself up for big problems. That could be considered distributing pirated movies across international borders. You can get five years in Club Fed prison for that here in America. You’re better off uploading the movies to some kind of remote storage service and download then when you arrive.
would it be even safer if i format my ext harddrive,in that case if they take a look at it they will see it is empty.and when i get home i can get my data back with testdisk or something like that,
or could they even if they see its empty start to run some testdisk aswell? i cant imagine that,but who knows…
They will never check hard disks / laptops for by going through them. They simply don’t have the resources for it. Just imagine, almost everyone travels with a laptop, and if they start checking each one, every person would be there for like 30minutes minimum, even now it takes too long with the metal detector and removing belts etc. It’s just impossible.
They only want you to take out your laptop because they check if it’s a real laptop, and not a hidden bomb. I recently flew, and the guy in front of me had a new kind of minilaptop and the customs guy wanted him to turn it on and log in, he just needed to see that it was actually a working computer, and not something else masqueraded as a computer. he had never seen a laptop like that before.
Don’t be so paranoid. Just take your hard disks and don’t worry.
Have you considerate use the mail. Package your hdd tight, put your new direction go to an office and tell them to send it there? Have you ever think that option……
Have you considerate use the mail. Package your hdd tight, put your new direction go to an office and tell them to send it there? Have you ever think that option......
they open ppls mail nowdays
even if they did check, and found all your movies. Just say they are backed up versions of the DVD you own at home. Totally legal.
jusk wondering. . .if its a laptop… hwta if there was no power left on it… would they have you stand there until it had power then show whats on it ? Or would they just think it was a waiste of time?
No, they won’t check it.
I wouldn’t worry about it. I would certainly keep it in your carry on though. Good luck!