Jane Engel shares some tips for travelling with your laptop.
Travellers lugging laptop computers worry about losing them, with good reason.
The hardware is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, and lost or stolen data could be priceless.
But safeguarding your machine is no mean feat.
Just ask Luke M. Ford, founder and chief executive of a tech-support company in Arizona.
On a recent jaunt to San Diego, he stashed his $US1400 laptop under a desk in his hotel room.
When he returned 30 minutes later, it was gone.
His travelling companion had left the door open.
Fortunately, Ford had encrypted his data and backed up his files on a remote website.
He bought another laptop, and "by 9.18am Monday, my office team had my new computer working with all the data".
It takes just a moment to lose your laptop.
But by taking precautions, you can reduce the chances and minimise your loss.