Power Protection for your Mac
19/10/07 09:14 Filed in: Hints 'n' Tips
The first few hot days of spring leading into a forecast blistering summer have already been felt, closely followed by crashing thunderstorms. Once more Sydney's airconditioners have roared into life, overloading stressed-out circuitry. Gusting winds bring down tree branches onto powerlines and sub-stations melt down under the blazing sun....
Power surges, brown-outs and black-outs are a regular feature this time of year, and whilst the flicker of the lights is a minor annoyance to us, that same surge can have a devastating effect on your computer. Crashed hard drives, loss of data, burnt out power supplies and fried logic boards - I've seen it all resulting from a hot day when the power went haywire even for an instant.
What can you do to protect your Mac and its data? The same as I do - get a personal UPS. An Uninterrupted Power Supply works in two ways - firstly, it filters the power coming to your workstation so that you don't get hit with spikes and surges, and secondly, if the power goes out, its battery capacity can give you the opportunity to save what you're doing and allow you to shut down gracefully, or if unattended, shut it down for you.
UPS systems are sold according to power and time requirements. My MGE Ellipse 500 is enough to protect my iMac, external FW drive and ADSL modem/router - and gives between 5 - 10 minutes of time before shutting the Mac down automatically via its USB link into Mac OS X's UPS System PreferencePane. That way my equipment is protected if there's a surge or blackout.
The cost? From $170.00 upwards, depending on your power rating requirement. That's less than 50% of the cost of a new power supply and 10% of the cost of a new logic board. Not bad insurance!
UPS systems are not just for computers, either. With widescreen Plasma and LCD TVs now more popular than ever, you should consider electrical protection for the $$$ you've invested on your Home Theatres system. It only takes one surge...
If you're interested in getting a UPS, please call or email me.
• MGE UPS : use the online selector to determine the model/capacity you need.
Power surges, brown-outs and black-outs are a regular feature this time of year, and whilst the flicker of the lights is a minor annoyance to us, that same surge can have a devastating effect on your computer. Crashed hard drives, loss of data, burnt out power supplies and fried logic boards - I've seen it all resulting from a hot day when the power went haywire even for an instant.
What can you do to protect your Mac and its data? The same as I do - get a personal UPS. An Uninterrupted Power Supply works in two ways - firstly, it filters the power coming to your workstation so that you don't get hit with spikes and surges, and secondly, if the power goes out, its battery capacity can give you the opportunity to save what you're doing and allow you to shut down gracefully, or if unattended, shut it down for you.
UPS systems are sold according to power and time requirements. My MGE Ellipse 500 is enough to protect my iMac, external FW drive and ADSL modem/router - and gives between 5 - 10 minutes of time before shutting the Mac down automatically via its USB link into Mac OS X's UPS System PreferencePane. That way my equipment is protected if there's a surge or blackout.
The cost? From $170.00 upwards, depending on your power rating requirement. That's less than 50% of the cost of a new power supply and 10% of the cost of a new logic board. Not bad insurance!
UPS systems are not just for computers, either. With widescreen Plasma and LCD TVs now more popular than ever, you should consider electrical protection for the $$$ you've invested on your Home Theatres system. It only takes one surge...
If you're interested in getting a UPS, please call or email me.
Updated: 3/07/08 7:33 AM