As @derpinator explained, what the hardware wallets really store is the seed, your 24 words. This is the most important thing to back up.
- If you lose the hardware wallet but you have the words, you’re ok: just buy a new one and put the old words in.
- If you lose the pin code of your hardware wallet you can just reinitialize it with the 24 words and set a new pin.
- If you lose the 24 words but you still have the hardware wallet and the pin, you can create a new wallet (on a different device!) and then transfer all your coins from one to the other. On the ledger you can’t see your 24 words after initialization for security reasons (someone else could see them without your knowledge), so you can’t extract them after the fact.
However, if you lose the 24 words AND the wallet, you are screwed. Forever. But be VERY careful where you back up your 24 words, if somebody gets access to them they have everything they need to take your money. They may not even take it immediately, they might just wait until it’s worth enough. But also make sure that somebody (you choose) has access to the words should something happen to you, otherwise that money is lost forever.
Are you paranoid yet?
P.S. If anybody knows of a good deal on safety deposit boxes, let me know. 