Figured I'd share this in case anyone else decides to make one of these. I wasn't satisfied with having to open and close one of these to add new data, so I decided to mount a 500GB External Hard drive into mine and drill 2 x 1/2" holes in the side of the safe to allow for USB Cable and power cord to pass thru to the drive that is MOUNTED snug inside of it. Used concrete bit to punch thru it. It drilled through quickly as for the cement that this safe is made from is almost like hard packed sand and soft to drill. What is not shown in this is that I will be going to the hobby store to pick up modeling clay that is the type that you can fire or bake to harden or leave to dry to harden. I am going to pack that clay into this hole with cables to plug the hole and KEEP it fireproof for the drive inside. Also to mention that the safe I picked up for 50 CENTS more is waterproof with a rubber gasket that seals when closed. Safe was $29.96 at Walmart. External drive I already had and was a convenient spare for this PROJECT. 500GB is overkill for the data I need to store, but its better to have too much space than too little.

This drive will be powered only when accessing this drive, as for a hard drive in the confined space inside a firesafe by direct example would probably cook itself to death if it was running 24x7. So for quick writes it can remain shut and locked, and for long read/write access I can pop the lid open on the safe and let the drive breathe.

Only modification I had to make to this Seagate External was that the plastic base was too wide so it conflicted with lid shutting. So I popped the base off, unscrewed 3 screws, and took reciprocating saw to it to shave about 3/4 of an inch off the one side. Of course the hacksaw to make a cleaner cut was M.I.A, so I placed a metal bit into saw and cut it while not attached to Hard drive. Definitely would not want to cut this when drive is attached to rattle/jar the heads into the platters..LOL   Then reattached the base which helped make the drive a snug fit. Cut base side is hidden from view with drive mounted laying inside the way it is in pics, and the base was just a clam shell of plastic, no PCB's etc.

Now to backup all important data to it with it tucked in a hidden location near outer wall, a cooler location if there was a fire ever on my single level home.

Thanks Everyone who assisted in a prior forum post which helped me come to this project solution vs Epoxy Thumb drive in car trunk etc.



[year+ old attachment deleted by admin]DL, An interesting "solution". However i have a concern re your objective being realized by your safe method. By drilling through the wall of the safe and introducing the USB cable from the outside world i fear that cable will be come a combustible material and transmit heat/flame into the interior. To what extent that will occur remains to be seen as to a certain degree that fire transmission will be limited by the available oxygen in the closed interior of the safe. If you can find a way to create the temperatures of a typical house fire and have associated flame available for the low cost of a USB cable you could test this concern (or just ignore it  ) truenorth Quote

It drilled through quickly as for the cement that this safe is made from is almost like hard packed sand and soft to drill.

If you can find a way to create the temperatures of a typical house fire and have associated flame available for the low cost of a USB cable you could test this concern (or just ignore it  ) truenorth

Normal cement will explode at a certain temprature. I found this out the hard way once while using a cutting torch...