Hi,
I finally broke down and got a safe to store my software and system backup CD's. A neighbor suggested I buy a rifle safe and put sand bags or some other weight at the bottom to discourage theft.
Makes sense to me. The safe alone weighs 240 pounds. It's about 2 foot square and 5 feet high. I guess I could at least add 100 to 200 lbs of dead weight using some material.
If anybody has done this, what type of material did you use to increase the weight? Anything I should be aware of?
T.I.A.
I found bodies take up to much room, my ammo and guns add 400 lbs. It helps
Hi,
I have installed some safes in my day. I have bolted them to the floors and also weighted them to discourage theft. Bolting to the floor is not too great unless you can actually through bolt them so weighting them works best. Now the problem is how much room you have in the safe. I ended up using steel plates for the weight and not sand becasue steel weighs more with less volume. If you are already over 200 lbs and add say 100 lbs of sand or metal you should make it pretty tough to stral without a dolly or something like that.
Candice
I'd make sure the floor can hold the addition of 350 or so pounds of constant dead weight. :)
Steel is good and should add ample weight nicely. If you ask me, 240 pounds alone is enough to keep me from wanting to steal it!
One thing to consider when storing software is environment in which you are storing it. Many safes are/were welded in such a manner as creates a slight charge that, over time, is JUST enough to erase magnetic media. Of course that will not be an issue for optical media (which is what most software comes on these days) but it can prove to be an issue for tapes, floppy discs, zip discs, and hard disk drive.
James
This is Turtle.
Putting weights in it will hel;p but if you use concrete bolt and drilled into the floor will add about 3 tons to it by putting bolts inside the safe from the inside. Now you could set it in the concrete slade of youir home and add about 30 tons to the safe.
TURTLE
Thanks everybody,
The safe is in the garage, bolted to the floor and screwed into the studs. I'll get some steel based on the suggestions. I don't need a lot of room, so that's not an issue.
The magnetic comment was interesting. Never thought of that. thankfully, all my stuff is on CD's, so I think I'm fine.
I'm also thinking about putting up a sign on the safe...something like..."The only contents in this safe are records and software. Don't waste your time."
I'm not paranoid. We were robbed a few years back and ever since that incident, we have taken all our valuables with us when we go away for a few days. Now, unfortunately, we have a neighbor whose 3 teenage sons are a curse. One has broken into our neighbor's house and is currently on probation. Over the past few months, the neighborhood has been vandalized (sprinklers removed, porch furniture ruined, that sort of thing. I thought that was enough of an incentive to finally get a safe.
Thanks again
You may be teasing your thieving neighbours with the safe in the garage like that. Even if they don't get into it while you are away they may make an awful mess trying.
Peter H
I have stored CDs in a fire-proof box, but not anymore. Make copies of your CDs and store the orginals at another location (safe deposit box, workplace, relative or neighbor's house). I have a wood shop with a 8 foot lathe having a bottom shelf. I made sandbags from old jean legs and laid them on the bottom shelf to increase the weight to over 2000 lbs. The sandbags are very sturdy and about the right size for easy handling, and sometimes I use them for "clamping" weights for glueups.
Why don't you just leave it UNLOCKED.
Got in touch with a friend who suggested that instead of the weight, I bolt the safe to the garage floor with 4 - 5/8" hardened anchors. The anchors the safe came with (2) were so soft I snapped them off while tightening them down.
Bottom line is that we will be drilling our brains out tomorrow morning. In addition to all this, I'll make backup copies of my critical data and store them "off site".
I might add weight some day, but until then, I think my buddy has a good idea and it's only costing me lunch.
Thanks to everybody....
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