Burglary worlingham road 2 3 2011

[bloonoo]

Hi

we were burgled today on worlingham road between 8 and 6. They entered the side gate and broke in the back kitchen window. If anyone saw anything please can they PM me? They took 4 laptops, cameras, jewellery, games stations amongst other things. Hopefully they wont come back as there's nothing left to steal.also if anyone sees any items like above being sold on gumtree ebay etc let me know...long shot I know but thats probably where they're destined for. Funny as our laptops are all really old and worth nothing. Oh well.

thanks for reading this.

oh and if the thieves are reading this, thanks very much, hope you rot in hell. My laptop contained all my photos from my entire life, my uni work, Plus other sentimental items.

[Ann]

boonoo, I'm so sorry. I live very close to you and have been burgled in the past but not recently.

Your post had made me think that we should really all have one of those new separate hard drives which I believe are not that expensive. Like you, I've got a couple of old laptops in our house not worth much and not containing anything worthwhile.

Anyone out there who give recommendations on saving valuable data?

[bloonoo]

Hi ann, thanks for your post. Unfortunately I do have a hard drive but this was also taken :(

[DJKillaQueen]

An external hard drive for all your personal files is a good idea but you must disconnect it and put it away when you go out if you don't want that stolen too. Also there are several online servers that will host your personal files for you...like a remote hard drive if you like...that a burglar can never steal. My preferred method is to also back up to DVD every day any files I've worked on (just like I do at work). Yes you end up with a file full of DVD backups...but no burglar will ever steal those either.

[james.]

.

[bonaome]

@bloonoo: really sorry to hear about the break in.

For anyone interested, have a look at this ... External hard drive, 1TB, and under ?50. I've got one and it's fab. As I think another poster mentions, when not in use unplug it, hide it!

[ianr]

>when not in use unplug it, hide it!

Other hazards such as fire may find it, even if a burglar doesn't. There's really no alternative to off-site storage of critical data backups, encrypted if you like.

[dandy]

Sorry to hear that you were burgled. We live on Mount Adon Park and about 10 days ago we cam home to see both our side/back gate had been opened and so had our neighbours'. The same thing happened two nights later. Then about a week ago my son saw a young black boy of about 16 peering through our neighbours window and chased him away. The police were excellent ad cam withing 15minutes, CID, rather than the usual plod.

Must say your case seems familiar and I think we should all be extra vigilant and security concsious...

[Penguin68]

If your laptop is used as a desktop (i.e. mainly in the same place) it is worthwhile getting one of those steel cables that you can tether laptops with - to steal them you need to have bolt-cutters (not all casual thieves do) or so damage the computer that it has no re-sale value.

Sending key papers/ pictures to yourself at something like gmail - which offer loads of storage - is also a good way of storing really important documents.

If you have portable storage and good housekeeping you can back up pictures etc, to it on a regular basis, but mainly keep it locked away. That way you only lose the most recent stuff.

Absolutely none of which is of any use to you in your current predicament of loss.

Funnily enough no one steals bound photo albums, or old essays on paper. Technological progress has its downsides.

[Sue]

Ann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> Anyone out there who give recommendations on

> saving valuable data?

xxxxxxx

So sorry to hear about the burglary, and hope you are not too traumatised.

Check out Carbonite

For less than a pound a week all your data, photos, music etc will be automatically backed up and you don't have to remember to transfer it to an external hard drive (or hope that the external hard drive will not die).

I once somehow permanently deleted a load of stuff by mistake and was so glad I had it backed up. And of course if your laptop is stolen again (heaven forfend) or if you change your laptop, you will be able to get all your data back with no problem.

[Penguin68]

Carbonite as a solution is fine if (1) you only want to back up one computer (its licence is per computer - so 2 computers costs ?82 a year. (2) - you don't have any data on portable hard drives, which it won't back-up - which many people get to extend the capacity of otherwise perfectly OK laptops (3) you don't mind paying for, effectively close to a terrabyte of storage each year which is only yours on lease. For many people this is an entirely good solution, but check your requirements.

For the cost (probably) of 2 years storage you could buy 2 terrabyte drives and mirror them (in case one dies) - put them in an external drive case (additional cost) and link that by wireless or ethernet to your computer - then lock your home server away somewhere where the little scrotes won't think to look. Standard back-up programms (additional cost, possibly) will allow you to preserve your data.

HOWEVER - this won't protect against fire in the home - for that external (cloud) storage is required. Mind you - a bad bout of solar flare and you probably lose the cloud - possibly all your data with it (whereas at home you can switch off your computer and disconnect from power etc. sources and it should survive a solar flare).

My key data is backed up on 3 separate systems (against data loss and system failure) and (work data) additionally in 2 locations - but I don't use any cloud storage. And as soon as I post this I expect something dreadful will happen which makes all my precautions useless.

[Jason]

Sorry to hear your news bloonoo.

I use Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/) to back up all my photographs, business and personal files.

Before this I used an external hard drive and left it at a friends like a spare set of keys.

My office on Gowlett Road got burgled over this xmas and this allowed me to start again with no data lost when my new computer arrived.

I know no consolation to you now bloonoo, but anyone reading this who has not backed up there photos and files PLEASE DO IT. You will be gutted if the worst happens.

[helibell]

Hullo

Sorry to hear this news. It reminds me that I've been meaning to get a much more secure back door to our place. DOes anyone have a recommendation for a door person who can advise on security & fit???

Thanks

[karter]

Sorry about your break in bloonoo. There seems to be alot more of this mentioned on the edf recently. I would agree though on external storage solutions. Also on added security on doors and windows, guys dont get complacent. Our house was infiltrated through a side gate recently but thankfully they could did not get far. Have friends/family currently checking our place at the south end of ed, hopefully will all be ok, being near police station makes no difference btw apparently. Pm me for alans number to secure doors windows helibell, dont have the details where i am at present. It's also easy to install security measures yourself if you are diy competent.

[copleston_charlie]

Sorry to hear about the break-in, always distressing.

To add to the backup discussion, if your wireless router is somewhere out of the way, you can buy a Network Attached Storage device, (NAS) for around ?100. It's basically a large external hard disc you connect to your router, and once set up your laptop would just view it as another hard drive. You can copy all your files onto it wirelessly and it's out the way. Add an extra level of paranoid protection by spending ?50 on another 1TB external drive, backing up everything onto that every week or two and leaving it with a friend close by.

Everyone should back up there hard drives as a matter of routine, as, unfortunately, they never last forever and will at some point die on you. Whether that's due to their inevitable mechanical failure or a little toerag nicking your laptop and selling it for ?20 to buy another rock of crack/eigth of weed/bottle of alcopops/ is a a moot point.

[Me! Me! Me!]

Architectural specifications should ALWAYS be mindful of potential to burglary. It goes without saying detached and semi-detached dwellings afford would-be intruders convenient access and entrance around side and to rear of properties. Access gaps between semis need to be secured with bricked-up lockable doorways. Battery operated sensor security lighting is very cheap now that requires no wiring to install.