Mini 2010 physical security.

[DukeOfHunslet]

Loving my new Mac Mini 2010 over my old model.

But... due to the lack of any security slot I am now paranoid about it going missing should anyone break into my house.

I'm looking at 2 solutions for this.

A casing/mount to screw it to my desk.

Or

An external hard drive case that will do the same.

It's not really the mac it's all the family photo's on it. I've thought about Time Machine but at £400 that's quite an outlay - an external drive case with screw holes on it might work - I could screw that into something heavy.

I found a bracket by Creation Security - but as they don't want to tell me the price when I directly asked them how much I'm guessing it's a stupid price for what it is.

Has anyone knocked up there own security bracket for a 2010 Mini at all?

Cheers all.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I cannot help you with screwing your machine into a bracket but I would say that you should use time machine (this is free with Snow Leopard and Leopard) to backup to a hard drive that you store in a safe somewhere, if you're that concerned. Keep another one connected at all times to do your incremental backups with time machine.

You can get a 1TB drive for < $100 today.

Edit: I lied, I found something that you may like for $67 USD
http://www.tryten.com/Apple-Mac-Security-Locks/Mac-Mini-Security-Mount

 

[rprebel]

Dropbox or Carbonite would allow you to backup (which you should be doing anyway) those photos. Since your main concern is someone breaking into the house, whatever solution you go with will need to be off-site.

 

[belvdr]

A casing/mount to screw it to my desk.

Or

An external hard drive case that will do the same.

If somebody is breaking into your house, a few screws isn't going to keep them from taking it. Even a Kensington cable has a fatal flaw: bolt cutters.

I'd recommend a backup solution, as mentioned above.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Dropbox or Carbonite would allow you to backup (which you should be doing anyway) those photos. Since your main concern is someone breaking into the house, whatever solution you go with will need to be off-site.

Well, then there is that. I hadn't thought of cloud storage.

 

[mistamidget]

I use an original xbox running Linux as a fileserver which sits in the roof with the DSL router so no-one is going to pinch that. Even if it was sitting inside on display no-one would take it anyway I think.
It's fine for music and photos, letters etc so don't need a USB drive connected except to do the occasional (my bad backup strategy) backup.
I'm going to get a USB blueray writer for backing up soon.

 

[DewGuy1999]

H-Squared Mini Mount

Tryten Mac Mini Security Mount

 

[PhantomPumpkin]

H-Squared Mini Mount

Tryten Mac Mini Security Mount

Ok. That first one is just cool as heck. Makes me want to buy a mini, just to use it!

 

[Uofmtiger]

Dropbox or Carbonite would allow you to backup (which you should be doing anyway) those photos. Since your main concern is someone breaking into the house, whatever solution you go with will need to be off-site.

I agree. While tying it don't might deter thieves, it won't help if you have a fire or natural disaster. Off site cloud storage is the best way to ensure your files are safe.

 

[DukeOfHunslet]

Well after some thought I have decided on a hybrid of solutions...

I'm running Cat5 from the router downstairs up into the loft.
I'm connecting an unmanaged 5 port router to the end of it.

On the router I'll run Cat5 down to my office.
This will solve the problem I have with Wifi - My office is an extension on the original house and is therefore encased in 4 cavity brick walls (that's 2 rows of bricks, for our american friends who might be more used to wooden frame building methods). I always wondered why signal was bad in there and last night it dawned on me - my iPhone gets wifi in the bedroom but not the office. In fact on my new Mac Mini signal is down to about 1Mb despite the router pumping 9Mb such is the poor signal.

On the loft router will also be a 1TB ethernet drive.

As I have 2 Macs that gives me chance to connect both of them to one router and also share the drive as well as the ADSL.

To power the router and drive I plan to run an extension from the office - powered off an eco-socket. This means no power will be passed to the loft socket unless one of my Macs is actually using power - this limits fire risk and power consumption while not in use...

So if anyone forsees a problem with 3 devices talking to each other on an unmanaged hub then speak up - I have no experience there.

It sounds like a lot of work - but I'm in the middle of fitting central heating so while floor boards are up and channels being carved into walls I can exploit the access to run cabling.

Cheers for the interest... I'm off to ask the Network guy at work about that drum of Cat5 under his desk.

 

[Baby Mac]

There are also websites out there where you can store your files. That would work without having to physically move external drives to make backups.