Reply #20: They can. The point is to avoid all that. If you can't avoid it, mitigate your loss.

[Edweird]

If you show up with a laptop that has an operating system and not much else, what are they going to do? What is there to seize? All of your data is secured elsewhere. In the event they steal your laptop - they would be taking it for no legitimate reason - your data is accessible. Using truecrypt, in my not-so-humble opinion puts you at greater risk since truecrypt leaves indicators of it's presence AND your data is on that drive. So, while they can't get to it, they can seize your computer and now YOU can't get to it either.