Post: #1

Noob to the site, not to the game. Hello to all.

I've spent the last two years getting my business in order to be location independent. I've achieved that and I'm looking to do a month in Europe soon.

My business depends on my laptop. It's high-end and I need it to stay in touch with servers stateside, plus to do quantitative analysis (my business).

How do I protect it from theft when I'm traveling? I haven't traveled much, and I've never been outside the US and Canada.

Any advice on keeping my stuff secure would be much appreciated.

Post: #2

(06-23-2011 10:17 PM)mycleverid Wrote:  Noob to the site, not to the game. Hello to all.

I've spent the last two years getting my business in order to be location independent. I've achieved that and I'm looking to do a month in Europe soon.

My business depends on my laptop. It's high-end and I need it to stay in touch with servers stateside, plus to do quantitative analysis (my business).

How do I protect it from theft when I'm traveling? I haven't traveled much, and I've never been outside the US and Canada.

Any advice on keeping my stuff secure would be much appreciated.

Where would you be staying? In rented apartments? I'd assume that it should be no less secure than leaving it at your apartment at home if you choose a decent area. If I had a lot of critical data, I'd be sure to back it all up in real time up on a cloud server. The data on the computer I'm sure is worth much more than the computer itself.

If you're staying in hostels, personally I'd never bring any very expensive computer in a place like that. While most hostellers and staff are trustworthy, it only takes one to ruin your trip. I don't know what your computing demands are, but if you don't need a shitload of processing power(which I don't see why you would if you're doing data analysis as opposed to video editing or graphics), why not get a cheap Asus laptop for < $300. If someone steals it, not the end of the world. Combine that with a cloud backup server and that's about as worry free as you can get.

Post: #3

Agreed.

Never leave data on the laptop that you can not afford to lose.

Also take with you a small USB external drive. You can get tiny ones that hold 400-500 mb of data easily.

Keep copies / backups on the USB drive and keep it separate from your laptop.

If you do the cloud and USB drive backups properly you should be able to buy a new laptop if yours gets stolen and be back up and running in less than 1 hour.

Post: #4

(06-24-2011 04:21 AM)Lumiere Wrote:  Agreed.

Never leave data on the laptop that you can not afford to lose.

Also take with you a small USB external drive. You can get tiny ones that hold 400-500 mb of data easily.

Keep copies / backups on the USB drive and keep it separate from your laptop.

If you do the cloud and USB drive backups properly you should be able to buy a new laptop if yours gets stolen and be back up and running in less than 1 hour.

yeah, I bought a 8gb usb drive last week for $15

Post: #5

All hostels that I've ever been in had lockers. I regularly stored my laptop in them and never had any problems. While I was sleeping, the locker key was in the pocket of the pants I was sleeping in and again, no one was groping me for the key. I didn't find any substantial threat of thievery.

This was in mid and eastern europe, however...

Post: #6

As mentioned, have a small USB drive (always on you) and also some online storage and backup at least your important stuff daily.

Keep your important files in one partition and encrypt it (Windows 7 has BitLocker), so it cannot be accessed if your computer is stolen.

Keep your laptop in a locker if you're in a hostel.

Have some DVD's with system installation files (e.g. Windows or whatever you use) in case you need to reinstall a new laptop.

This way, even if it gets stolen little is lost except the actual price of the laptop. Have the laptop insured along with your travel insurance (for this, you may have to get a document from customs when you leave your home country).

Most travelers carry laptops these days so you're not a stand out in this regard. Do not bring some obviously overpriced eye candy laptop though. Maybe buy a cheaper laptop for travels.

Post: #7

I use a 3 dollar laptop lock cable. i can lock my laptop to the aluminum frame of my backpack. i also have another steel lock cable attached to the aluminum frame which i can lock onto the bed/table etc etc. A cable with number lock like that might cost 15 to 20 dollars.

I sometimes lock my laptop to a table or a chair when i leave the hostel living room. But most of the time i just leave it there when going to the kitchen or toilet etc etc.

i recommend using the laptop lock cable as a bare minimum. Nobody can easily snatch it from your backpack without a bolt cutter. I put keys,money,passport and phone in my jeans and put the jeans under the pillow when i sleep.

Bring your own locks and you can even bring your own hinge with an ring or eye ( not a native speaker, dont know the name of it) and screw it to a door and post and lock it this way. takes a screwdriver and a few screws so hotel or other personal cant enter the room when your gone. Ideal for long stays.

When with a girl you don't trust, lock the door from the inside and hide the key so she cant run of with your stuff when you sleep. Trust me , i learned the hard way and nearly got stabbed by a Malaysian girl when i confronted her on stealing my money. i had to knock her to the floor.

hmm, i should write a detailed post about this on my site.

i use online backup from Google , cost 20 dollars a year for a shitload of gigs. ( upgradable)

Post: #8

(08-11-2011 04:16 PM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  I use a 3 dollar laptop lock cable. i can lock my laptop to the aluminum frame of my backpack.

Don't. This way a thief who only wanted your laptop may be forced to steal your backpack as well. And the content of the backpack has more value than your laptop. Just think of all the expenses to get a new passport.

Post: #9

(08-11-2011 04:30 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

(08-11-2011 04:16 PM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  I use a 3 dollar laptop lock cable. i can lock my laptop to the aluminum frame of my backpack.

Don't. This way a thief who only wanted your laptop may be forced to steal your backpack as well. And the content of the backpack has more value than your laptop. Just think of all the expenses to get a new passport.

Dont wanna be a smart ass but i wrote that i use a second cable to lock my backpack to a bed or table so no one can take the whole bag.

Greetz Neil

Post: #10

A zombie thread I created. Whoo-hoo!

(06-24-2011 10:13 AM)Pete Wrote:  yeah, I bought a 8gb usb drive last week for $15

This is terrible advice for preserving secure data. Lost thumb drives are a major source of data breaches.

I'm increasingly inclined to just pay for a respectable hotel. It's increasingly clear to me that protect a couple million in intellectual property is worth a few thousand dollars in extra cost.

Also, everyone tells me that while hostels are great place to meet people, they're terrible places to close the deal.

Post: #11

^ You can encrypt the usb drive.

A private room at a hostel usually costs the same as a 3 star hotel, or even more. And most hostels only have very few privates. So unless you're going for the dorm a hotel is definitely a better choice.

Post: #12

(08-11-2011 06:32 PM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  Dont wanna be a smart ass but i wrote that i use a second cable to lock my backpack to a bed or table so no one can take the whole bag.

Yeah, I got it. What you're saying that the thief has to cut one cable to steal everything because it is all tied together. Why don't you lock laptop and your bag separately on the bed?

Post: #13

(08-11-2011 10:47 PM)gig Wrote:  ^ You can encrypt the usb drive.

Good habits pay off in the long run. And the best habit in re to thumb drives is "don't use them for anything mission critical and secure".

Far, far too many hacking incidents can be traced back to misplaced thumb drives. Or worse, thumb drives that were swiped, infected with malware and then returned to their owner.

Post: #14

(08-12-2011 06:07 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:  

(08-11-2011 06:32 PM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  Dont wanna be a smart ass but i wrote that i use a second cable to lock my backpack to a bed or table so no one can take the whole bag.

Yeah, I got it. What you're saying that the thief has to cut one cable to steal everything because it is all tied together. Why don't you lock laptop and your bag separately on the bed?

Never thought about that, i usually burry my laptop on the bottom of my bag.