It depends. If everything is stored unencrypted on the drive it's pretty easy to reset passwords or boot to a USB and access everything. If it's locked down hard you could be SOL. The worst I've seen happen is the loss of family photos with people who had passed away so they were irreplaceable.
this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
11 points (92.3% liked)
Ask Lemmy
26916 readers
1932 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
It would be such a mindfuck honestly. Like all your billing, auth, files, apps, gone. Like I feel like its plausible you could literally end up on the street
Heh, banks are absolute shit at the soft entry points, like calling up with minimal personal information and a teller opening the door wide for you.
There was another person in my hometown with the same name and we used the same bank. They gave her access to my account multiple times. I had long passwords and an account flag reminding the tellers to confirm Date of Birth EVERY TIME. They still let her withdraw several hundred dollars from my account (not that she was trying to to steal my money, just that she requested a withdrawal and they didn't confirm the right account). Account closed, bank reported, and I am 100% sure they would make the same fuckup today if I gave them the opportunity.
You would be terrified how easy it can be to get access to accounts without a password or even ID.
Probably not. It might be a pain in the ass but realistically you'll be able to work with banks/utilities/work to get access back. As long as you have access to your email as well you can likely recover your accounts. Files are likely the biggest risk, remember to keep regular backups and even this can be recovered.
This is why you should keep backups, which, for me, includes physical printouts of access data stored in a safe location. That's also helpful if something should happen to you.