Burglaries - be aware!

[JoceAndChris]

I think I remember being given various options for setting the alarm from the bedroom which involved installation of extra keypads (and we'd already spent 3k on the system!!) but we decided against it. My night isn't like other people's night, I'm up and down like a yo-yo, I wake at the tiniest noise, night is very short because of Chris's mad commute and I have to sleep in the day to compensate. Anyway, once all the shutters are closed with the great iron bars drawn - (same with the doors), it would be hard to get it without making a lot of noise. At which point I'd shoot them and dig a large hole for the bodies and who would ever know?

 

[tobydog]

Unfortunately we had to have our system removed. It was quite old and went off several times without good reason. Every clap of thunder and lightning flash was also a problem and when it went off, everyone in the village knew :x . No one came running though!!. We still keep the box on the outside wall as some kind of deterent.

What I was going to say was that when you do make a claim from the insurance, be tough with the insurer. Many tend to treat you as though you are the criminal. Some friends of ours had £20,000 of jewellery stolen recently and they fought for months with the insurers. Much of the jewellery was antique and family heirlooms but the insurer still insisted they replaced it!!. With what?. Just someone wanting to tick a box. In the end they took a cash alternative which was significantly lower. As I work in the insurance business, albeit power stations and oil refineries, I would have taken the insurers to the steps of the courthouse if necessary. The thing is it shouldn't be necessary.

 

[JoceAndChris]

As a matter of interest, what did the company put in your workshop?

It's a separate system, with it's own keypad. 2 PIR sensors, I think, and contacts on the doors. The sensors were a little over sensitive to begin with and we had a couple of false alarms but the company came back and rejigged them and there have been no further problems.

 

[JoceAndChris]

What I was going to say was that when you do make a claim from the insurance, be tough with the insurer. Many tend to treat you as though you are the criminal. Some friends of ours had £20,000 of jewellery stolen recently and they fought for months with the insurers. Much of the jewellery was antique and family heirlooms but the insurer still insisted they replaced it!!. With what?. Just someone wanting to tick a box. In the end they took a cash alternative which was significantly lower. As I work in the insurance business, albeit power stations and oil refineries, I would have taken the insurers to the steps of the courthouse if necessary. The thing is it shouldn't be necessary.

No, it shouldn't. Apart from not hiding the jewellery I'm also staggered that a) my parents did not keep receipts b) they didn't photograph any of it. With these precautions, and a good policy, there shouldn't be problems. NFU handed over a cheque to us without any difficulties last year. We keep up to date valuations and scanned in receipts of things stored on the computer.

 

[Moo]

scanned in receipts of things stored on the computer.

What a good idea!





(assuming the computer itself doesn't get nicked!)

 

[Nigel Watts]

Much of the jewellery was antique and family heirlooms but the insurer still insisted they replaced it!!. With what?

If they had popped in to SJ Phillips in Bond Street the question would have been answered.

http://www.sjphillips.com/

 

[Flyfisher]

(assuming the computer itself doesn't get nicked!)

I realise I can bore for England on this topic, though I haven't done so for a while so the opportunity to practice is most welcome, but always assume your computer will get nicked, or at least fail in some catastrophic and unrecoverable way. Always assume your computer is the most unreliable device on the planet. Always assume that all your stored 'stuff' is seconds away from disappearing forever. Always assume that your computer will be completely and unrecoverably dead in the morning.

If such assumptions keep you awake at night then you don't have an adequate system for duplicating and protecting all the stuff stored on your computer.

 

[Feltwell]

Always assume that your computer will be completely and unrecoverably dead in the morning.

**** Reminds me to run backup as haven't done one in a while!*****

My previous portable hard drive failed on me, which apparently is not uncommon. It failed 2 weeks after the computer's hard drive had packed up, thank God it didn't fail at the same time! As well as running a backup to my new portable hard drive, I should really burn a CD (or upload to the BT vault thingy that comes with our internet) the really irreplaceable stuff, like photos of the kids.

Would keeping the hard drive in an unheated outhouse do it any harm? Just thinking it's not likely to be nicked from there, plus it would be safe if the main house went up in flames.

 

[Moo]

I've got a Lacie black box thingy with a huge amount of memory permanently connected to my computer, and it makes a sort of whining noise every so often. I've assumed that this means it's constantly updating itself, so that at any given time it contains a replica of everything that's in my computer.
Is that correct?

 

[Penners]

When we have found out the route, we will walk it. However it would be pretty amazing if they were lying in a ditch not picked up.

Of course you're right - there's the slimmest of chances. But many years ago our modest furniture factory in Haverhill, Suffolk, was burgled. The thieves took our business computer, but more importantly they discovered our hiding place for our software, data and backup discs (computers didn't have hard drives in those days). They pinched all of the 5.25-inch floppy discs. This was far more of a disaster than the theft of the computer, of course, as they had our entire business accounts on them.

The next day, the police caught the perpetrators and gave us a rough idea of where they'd been. We walked the route, and after a couple of hours I found all the discs chucked into a ditch. What's more, they all still worked! Phew!! I subsequently became a staunch advocate of off-site backup storage!

I admit that jewellery is much less likely to lie unspotted in a ditch than floppy discs - but you never know.

Fingers firmly crossed for your poor mum.

 

[Penners]

I've got a Lacie black box thingy with a huge amount of memory permanently connected to my computer, and it makes a sort of whining noise every so often. I've assumed that this means it's constantly updating itself, so that at any given time it contains a replica of everything that's in my computer.
Is that correct?

Known to us Technological Superbrains, Moo, as an external hard drive! No memory - lots of storage.

Its activity sounds as though it is carrying out automatic backups (known to us TSs as 'synching'], but I really think you should make certain of this. Imagine how you would feel if the day came that you had to rely on your backup - only to discover that it hadn't quite been doing what you thought it had.

I'm afraid I can't be of any more help than that, not being familiar with fruit-based software. But if you have a poke about in your computer, you should - I hope - be able to find the backup software and see what its settings are. If you're still not sure, I'm certain that young HW will be able to advise you.

 

[Flyfisher]

**** Reminds me to run backup as haven't done one in a while!*****

:lol: Backup discussions usually bring forth a few comments like that! It's such an easy thing to forget until it's too late. I'm no better at remembering than anyone else, probably worse, so I don't even trust myself to remember but have arranged for the PC to do it automatically every day.

My previous portable hard drive failed on me, which apparently is not uncommon. It failed 2 weeks after the computer's hard drive had packed up, thank God it didn't fail at the same time!

I don't have any statistics to support my assertion but I suspect external hard drives are slightly more susceptible to failure because they will generally receive rougher handling than a fixed drive in a PC that is rarely moved.

Another consideration is that if a backup drive is purchased at the same time as the PC then both drives will be the same age and may very well fail at around the same time. Fortunately, 'around the same time' will likely mean at least many days apart, but again, if this is a preventing a sound night's sleep, a third backup drive might be a good idea.

As well as running a backup to my new portable hard drive, I should really burn a CD (or upload to the BT vault thingy that comes with our internet) the really irreplaceable stuff, like photos of the kids.

A good idea. I tend to do this every year, though using DVDs as CDs seem a bit too small these days. But, again, don't assume these DVDs or CDs will last forever.

The BT vault and other online backup services can seem attractive but I personally don't like them or trust them. I don't like them because I have about 200GB of 'stuff' I keep backed up - photos, videos and personal data. Our broadband service is about 6Mb/sec so I calculate it would take just over 3 days to recover all my stuff if I lost everything - almost certainly a lot more as it wouldn't average that speed over such a long time. If my main hard drive failed, I'd want to be able to recover all my stuff instantly - which I can by simply plugging in my external hard drive to another PC.

But, even worse, our upload speed is about 0.5Mb/sec so it would take nearly 40 days to save everything! So, let's be honest, how often is anyone going to bother with that? And that's without even considering the monthly costs for such an amount of data. Such things might work for some people, or for smaller amounts of data, but I'm not convinced.

Would keeping the hard drive in an unheated outhouse do it any harm? Just thinking it's not likely to be nicked from there, plus it would be safe if the main house went up in flames.

I doubt it. I've kept external hard drives in unheated places throughout the year without any problems. Might be worth being aware of condensation issues when bringing them into a warm humid room but I've never had any problems. Besides, it won't be your only copy of your valuable stuff will it? :wink:

But spreading backups around must be a good idea. Consider also leaving copies with parents, children, friends, a workdesk or anywhere reasonably safe to protect against fire or theft. For anything particularly private, it's very easy to secure documents with passwords to deter casual snooping or, for the very paranoid, use encryption that even the most determined government would have difficulty in breaking.

 

[Flyfisher]

I've got a Lacie black box thingy with a huge amount of memory permanently connected to my computer, and it makes a sort of whining noise every so often. I've assumed that this means it's constantly updating itself, so that at any given time it contains a replica of everything that's in my computer.
Is that correct?

Probably - as Penners as already said.

Personally, I don't like backup software. I'm sure it's all very clever and only backs up things that have changed and that sort of thing but it has always seemed unnecessarily complicated to me. In the days when storage space was expensive and slow, incremental backups were probably a good idea but times change. Think about what you will need to do to recover all your stuff if your PC doesn't work tomorrow morning. I don't want to have to worry about how to use the recovery software in a mild panic that I might do the wrong thing and lose my precious backup. I just want to plug in my backup drive and carry on from where I left off, with all my files in exactly the same place as they originally were (and the first thing I would do is to make another backup copy, having just lost one!).

That's not to say such backup software is a bad thing, just that I don't like it. It's certainly a great deal better than nothing. But I wouldn't be comfortable using such software unless I had satisfied myself that it worked correctly and that I knew precisely how to use it to recover all my stuff.

When it comes to data security, paranoia is your friend. :wink:

 

[Penners]

I agree, FF. So what is your backup regime? If you want to just switch to the backup drive and carry on working, do you run a clone every time? Or do you 'image' the drive with Acronis, or some similar software?

I do the latter (a full new image, not an incremental), and then from time to time I just do a straightforward copy of all my data files from the computer to one of my external drives. However, I have yet to crack the problem of where to keep an off-site backup drive. I reckon garden shed storage is too vulnerable to accidental spade or lawnmower bashings, and taking it to someone else's house would mean remembering to bring it home regularly to be updated. And I know my own failings!

 

[Moo]

one of my external drives.

Gosh! How many of them do you have, Penners?

 

[Penners]

I have two, Moo. But I back up two computers - my own and the Managing Director's.

 

[Moo]

Hmm.
So I should really get myself another external hard drive, do periodic back-ups on it, and think of somewhere to keep it outside the house?

 

[Moo]

I've just taken your advice and investigated the Lacie. It would seem that it springs into action every time I use the computer.
What I don't know is whether it takes a 'snapshot' of everything every time, which would mean that I'm accumulating a huge archive, or just adding any changes that have happened.

 

[Flyfisher]

I agree, FF. So what is your backup regime? If you want to just switch to the backup drive and carry on working, do you run a clone every time? Or do you 'image' the drive with Acronis, or some similar software?

No, I don't bother with any form of 'imaging' software because my main PC already has two c: drive disks in a mirrored array so it's highly unlikely to fail. But even if it does (or the PC breaks for some other reason) I have a second PC available anyway. So I really only worry about protecting my personal data. I freely admit that having more than one PC makes things a bit easier, but my basic method is still applicable for a single PC, though it would make recovery a little longer as the PC itself would have to be fixed before the backup drive could be plugged back in.

To make things easy, I keep all my stuff within a single directory structure. Make a folder called "something" and ensure all your stuff is stored there. Sub-folders for 'Photos', 'Videos', 'Music', 'Email' and however else you wish to organise things are fine, just as long as there is one single 'top-level' folder.

Then simply copy "something" and all sub-folders to an external hard drive. That's basically it - except that no-one will regularly bother to manually do this so I make it completely automatic by using a simple batch file. Anyone who grew up with computers in the days of MS-DOS will understand the concept of typing commands instead of using a mouse and a batch file is just a simple way of automating the typing of such commands. Fortunately, MS-Windows has maintained compatibility for batch files, though they're not often used these days. Despite their simplicity they can be quite powerful and there is lots of information on the web for 'DOS commands'.

So, copying "something" to an external drive can be achieved by typing the following command:

XCOPY c:"something" e:"something" /s /v

Assuming "something is on the c: drive and the external drive is designated "e:" (just change things if necessary)

/s means that all subdirectories will also be copied
/v means that each file copied will be verified to confirm a good copy is made

Use Notepad or a similar 'text editor' (not a word processor unless if can save files in .txt format) to create a file containing the XCOPY command as above and save it on the PC desktop as "Backup.txt", then rename it to "Backup.bat. You should now have a new icon on your desktop called 'backup' and whenever you click on it it will automatically open up a command box and execute the XCOPY command to copy everything in "something" to your external hard drive.

This may, of course take some time but can be speeded up by specifying that only files that have been changed since the last backup are copied. To do this, edit the backup.bat file so that it contains the command line:

XCOPY c:"something" e:"something" /s /v /m

/m means that only files with the 'archive attribute' set (indicating that the file has been changed) will be copied and the archive attribute will also be reset so that the next backup will not copy the file again. If you ever change that file, the archive attribute will be automatically set again and the backup process will then copy it again (and reset the attribute again).

But even this command may take some time to fully execute, depending on your number of files, because the process still requires every file to be checked for the archive attribute even if it isn't actually copied. So, because you almost certainly don't want to sit around waiting for things to finish, you can add another command to the batch file to automatically shutdown the PC for you. Thus:

XCOPY c:"something" e:"something" /s /v /m
SHUTDOWN -s

Your desktop 'backup' icon will now backup all your changed files and then automatically shutdown the PC. So, instead of manually shutting down your PC at the end of the day, just click the 'Backup' icon, switch off the screen and walk away.

If you wish to be even more adventurous you could also use the scheduler function in Windows to define a day and time at which the 'Backup' command will be automatic. This can be useful for those wasteful people who leave their PCs on 24 hours a day.

There are, of course, some limitations with this scheme.

If the PC hard disc crashes then not only will all your data be lost but so will all the operating software and this backup scheme does not solve that problem. This doesn't bother me because I have more than one PC, so I can simply plug my backup drive into the other PC and instantly carry on as normal.

I don't bother with separately 'cloning' my main PC operating software because I have two mirrored hard disks for my c: drive so if one of them fails the PC will continue to work until I replace the failed disk, whereupon the PC will automatically recreate a new mirrored copy and restore resilience.

The other thing this scheme will not do is to remove files from the backup drive. Thus if you delete a file from the master "something" it will still remain on the backup drive. While this can be useful protection against accidental deletion (although other solutions already exist for such things) it does mean that the backup "something" gradually increases in size compared to the master "something". With modern large external hard drives this is rarely a problem but it's still a good idea to completely purge the backup drive occasionally. I do this once a year (usually during a quiet time during the Christmas holidays) by simply deleting "something" from the backup drive and re-copying the master "something" again. Be sure to copy ALL the master "something" files during this process and not just the changed files!

So, to answer the original question about my backup regime:

1. My main PC hard drive is a dual-disk mirrored array, to protect against a single disk failure
2. I have a second internal hard drive containing a copy of all my stuff
3. I have an external hard drive containing a copy of all my stuff, always connected to my main PC
4. I have a second external hard drive that I keep away from home, which I 'refresh' every few weeks

All of the above drives are automatically managed by a single batch file, which I run everyday when shutting down the PC with a click of the mouse.

This might all sound complicated but there are only two commands involved and both are invoked with a simple mouse click. The principle can be easily extended to automate backing up to multiple disks, it just takes a few extra commands and a bit of logical thought.

I hope this may help anyone worrying about their backup regime.

I do the latter (a full new image, not an incremental), and then from time to time I just do a straightforward copy of all my data files from the computer to one of my external drives. However, I have yet to crack the problem of where to keep an off-site backup drive. I reckon garden shed storage is too vulnerable to accidental spade or lawnmower bashings, and taking it to someone else's house would mean remembering to bring it home regularly to be updated. And I know my own failings!

Apart from the imaging, that's basically what I do. The only real difference is that I've automated it to ensure it happens every day when I shutdown the PC.

Off-site storage is more of a practical problem than a computer one per se. But even if you think shed storage might lead to accidental damage, don't forget that it wouldn't lead to data loss as such, providing you quickly replace the damaged drive - annoying though it would be.

I agree that storing a drive at another house involves a remembering to swap them when visiting and I certainly don't claim to be entirely reliable in this respect, but even if it's only done every three months then, compared with the risk of a real catastrophe, there probably wouldn't be too much data loss. Again, personal circumstances and the value of the data are the determining factors.



Hmm. Apologies for the epic post - did I mention that I could bore for England on the subject?

 

[Flyfisher]

Hmm.
So I should really get myself another external hard drive, do periodic back-ups on it, and think of somewhere to keep it outside the house?

Only you can really decide. If you're the sort of person who would rush into a burning building to save your irreplaceable family photos then I suggest the answer is probably 'yes'.