From: andekl_no@saaf_spam.se   
      
   Henry Spencer  wrote:   
      
   > In article <3fa1aa60$1@news.sentex.net>,   
   > Nicholas Fitzpatrick  wrote:   
   > >>>Can the electromagnetic radiation from this solar flare erase hard   
   > >>>disks or other magnetic media?   
   > >>No.  Except insofar as it might indirectly cause difficulties for software   
   > >>or other hardware, which might respond poorly...   
   > >   
   > >Hmm ... not even the x-ray radiation?  I wouldn't have thought it would   
   > >have been very healthy, for say, laptop hardrives on the ISS.   
   >   
   > X-rays don't affect magnetic media at all.  (Much of the concern about   
   > passing magnetic media through, e.g., airport X-ray machines is baseless   
   > superstition.  To the extent that it's legitimate, the issue is magnetic   
   > fields associated with the equipment, rather than the X-rays themselves.)   
      
   Also - those X-rays can't reach the ground - Earth's atmosphere is   
   equivalent of roughly 10 meters of water. If I recall correctly that is   
   deeper than most used-fuel basins in nuclear power plants.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)