Long time Ubuntu user here. The solution to your problem is data encryption. On Linux, there are different levels of data encryption, whether you want to encry

Long time Ubuntu user here. The solution to your problem is data encryption. On Linux, there are different levels of data encryption, whether you want to encrypt the whole hard drive or only the /home partition (where all of your private files will be stored). The ArchLinux Wiki has a very detailed page [1] about all the available options for disk encryption. Regarding Ubuntu, when you install it on your system, it will ask if you want to encrypt your /home partition [2] or your whole disk [3]. I got my laptop stolen in France last summer, and as much as this was a pain in the ass, at least I didn't have to wonder if the thief had access to my private data (photos, documents and the like) since the /home partition was encrypted. Hell, the thief probably had a WTF moment when (1) he discovered it was not a French version of Windows but an English version of Ubuntu running and (2) when he discovered it was a Taiwanese laptop with this keyboard layout [4]. Good luck to sell that on the French black market :) [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_encryption https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_encryption [2] https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ximage83.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.Q3l_7oXwbw.png https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ximage8... [3] http://www.tecmint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ubuntu-16.04-Installation-Type.png http://www.tecmint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ubuntu-16.... [4] https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7501/16104079539_00c39c200d_b.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7501/16104079539_00c39c200d_b....