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I lost my laptop!

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    I lost my laptop!

    last night in the back of a cab but by some miracle it turned up.

    Had half an hour of panic that I don't want to have again. I'm carrying fairly confidential info on there about clients and a couple of databases which would have been very very bad to lose. The clients would have been far from happy

    What does anyone else do? Eg
    - Some software to protect the hard drive? Which software? Would I need to reinstall everything?
    - Only carry database backups that client expressly agreed in writing to taking, acknowledging the risk of losing it
    - Take my own steps to hash some of the data in these databases - maybe in consultation with client
    - Some sort of insurance to cover the loss (and the resulting lost business?)
    - Not ever be drunk in charge of a laptop (not really practical and not guaranteed)
    - Or just not worry about it until it happens


    thanks

    #2
    Originally posted by Limited
    last night in the back of a cab but by some miracle it turned up.

    Had half an hour of panic that I don't want to have again. I'm carrying fairly confidential info on there about clients and a couple of databases which would have been very very bad to lose. The clients would have been far from happy

    What does anyone else do? Eg
    - Some software to protect the hard drive? Which software? Would I need to reinstall everything?
    - Only carry database backups that client expressly agreed in writing to taking, acknowledging the risk of losing it
    - Take my own steps to hash some of the data in these databases - maybe in consultation with client
    - Some sort of insurance to cover the loss (and the resulting lost business?)
    - Not ever be drunk in charge of a laptop (not really practical and not guaranteed)
    - Or just not worry about it until it happens


    thanks
    Get some professional indemnity insurance! If what you had was that precious (data and/or laptop) don't be surprised if a client goes after you. It has happened to one guy I know.

    Now we have Vista, we have that great BitLock software to protect the drive. (Yeah, right!) So look for a good reputable third party drive locker.

    Or, if your laptop has an easily removable drive caddy, remove it and keep it separate whilst in transit.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Limited
      last night in the back of a cab but by some miracle it turned up.

      Had half an hour of panic that I don't want to have again. I'm carrying fairly confidential info on there about clients and a couple of databases which would have been very very bad to lose. The clients would have been far from happy

      What does anyone else do? Eg
      - Some software to protect the hard drive? Which software? Would I need to reinstall everything?
      - Only carry database backups that client expressly agreed in writing to taking, acknowledging the risk of losing it
      - Take my own steps to hash some of the data in these databases - maybe in consultation with client
      - Some sort of insurance to cover the loss (and the resulting lost business?)
      - Not ever be drunk in charge of a laptop (not really practical and not guaranteed)
      - Or just not worry about it until it happens


      thanks
      Keep data on a USB drive. A small one will fit in your pocket. Could still be lost though, if you try hard.

      Or keep it on the network, use wifi and data cards, and VPN.

      Or keep it on the network and carry a fresh copy on a USB stick if you need to (if it'll fit), but not the original.

      Or strike a better work/life balance by not taking it home.

      I suppose that "- Only carry database backups that client expressly agreed in writing to taking, acknowledging the risk of losing it" is the professional way to do it. And fair: let them decide whether they want you to take data storage offsite. If so, they take the risk. If not, you don't work so much.
      Last edited by Euro-commuter; 4 April 2007, 09:22.
      God made men. Sam Colt made them equal.

      Comment


        #4
        Well, what a co-incidence. I've been a beta-tester for Seagates' Momentus drives for quite some time and they went on sale this Monday.

        You won't realistically find a more secure solution.
        Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
        threadeds website, and here's my blog.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Euro-commuter
          Keep data on a USB drive. A small one will fit in your pocket. Could still be lost though, if you try hard.

          Or keep it on the network, use wifi and data cards, and VPN.

          Or keep it on the network and carry a fresh copy on a USB stick if you need to (if it'll fit), but not the original.

          Or strike a better work/life balance by not taking it home.

          I suppose that "- Only carry database backups that client expressly agreed in writing to taking, acknowledging the risk of losing it" is the professional way to do it. And fair: let them decide whether they want you to take data storage offsite. If so, they take the risk. If not, you don't work so much.

          I actually may go to 3 different clients during the same week so I need all this stuff on my laptop

          I thought about USB drive but definately more likely to lose - and performance problems running databases from there

          I would suggest going straight from work to the pub is quite a good work/life balance

          I checked my PI insurance and was actually surprised to see that I would still be covered even if I was so drunk that I forgot I had a laptop with me. I expected some exclusion in there

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Limited
            I would suggest going straight from work to the pub is quite a good work/life balance

            Comment


              #7
              After last week I'm saying nothing on the matter
              Rule Number 1 - Assuming that you have a valid contract in place always try to get your poo onto your timesheet, provided that the timesheet is valid for your current contract and covers the period of time that you are billing for.

              I preferred version 1!

              Comment


                #8
                Faster laptop and software encrypt all data, remove cert from drive. Some problems with chkdisk in a crash etc but its worth it.

                Back up to encrypted drive at home.

                As Threaded mentions the Seagate drives are worthy of consideration.

                Companies are starting to take this seriously and you need to keep up to industry standards.
                Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

                Comment


                  #9
                  If it's a Mac then this is pretty good for recovering a stolen laptop. I imagine there's a PC equivalent.

                  Comment

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