Secure location for physical installation of the Mac Mini and the SSD it records to

Sawmill
Sawmill
edited August 2022 in Installation

We have a space above our laundry room that's only accessible by ladder. It's where the fiber comes into the house, and where the modem is located.

When I first set up SecuritySpy, I had the Mini (an older i7, with SecuritySpy as its only task) and the SSD in my office, right out in the open, with a 50' CAT7 cable running into the wall, through an attic space, and into the space above the laundry, to the modem.

The fan on the Mini runs constantly, which was a little annoying.

I ended up pulling a 50' USB cable and a 50' HDMI cable up to that location, and moving the Mini and the SSD up there.

I wasn't sure if I'd see any impact from having the monitor, keyboard & trackpad 50' away from the Mini, but it's working fine like this.

The trackpad, connected to the keyboard, connected to the 50' USB cable did not work at all, but using a USB hub and plugging the keyboard and trackpad into it individually fixed that.

I just ordered a USB to Bluetooth dongle to get my speakers connected to the system.

My office is much quieter, and the videos are being stored in a much more secure location now.

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben

    Thanks for this description, this sounds like a good setup. It's certainly better in terms of security to have the Mac in a hidden location: attic, cupboard, underfloor etc. The usual solution to control it is via Screen Sharing (which can be enable in the Sharing system preference), though a USB and HDMI connection gives you direct control, which is an advantage. And for older Macs this is nicer in terms of noise too, though the new M1 Macs generate far less heat and so this is less of an issue (M1 Mac minis and Studios still have fans of course, so aren't completely silent, although our M1 mini that runs our 16-camera test system can barely be heard, and it's under significant load).

  • Sawmill
    Sawmill

    Apparently, 50' is about the limit for an un-amplified high quality HDMI cable, which was $19 on Amazon.

    The 50' USB cable I'm using has an active repeater built in so it can handle the distance. It was $16 on Amazon.

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