Learned a huge lesson today that I thought I'd share here. I have to say, I have been preaching the importance of "backing up" data for a while now. Ever since I started doing all the IT stuff in the office as well as the design and project management parts. You only have to loose something one time for this to really hit home. But, no matter how much I ramble on about this, people just go about their business and fail to follow the advice.
Well, here's another example of why it is SOOOO important to back up your data! My boss and his family were traveling over the holiday and on their way back to the airport decided to stop for lunch. In the short time they were eating, someone broke into the car and stole every single piece of luggage in the car. Imagine how that would feel. And, unfortunately, one of the laptops they had with them had never been backed up. It had a few years worth of family photos that had never been printed or uploaded to an online service.
BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!!
And if you have a Apple product, make sure you have iCloud and "Find my Mac/iPhone/iPad" enabled, as well as requiring a password upon startup or sleep mode. This will ensure you can cut any access that thieves may have to your information and data.