How to set up my new Mac?
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As I mentioned, I got a new Mac this week.
I have an uninterruptible power supple with 5-6 "battery" outlets on it.
My feeling is that there are only two devices that NEED protection in case of a power loss.
- The computer
- The monitor (so I can see what #1 is doing).
Everything else is pretty optional.
- My backups.
- My music.
- My videos (downloaded TV shows, etc).
Does that sound reasonable?
I have more than enough ports to add "important" things, but the really critical things are what I outlined earlier.
Am I missing anything?
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Order of what to protect first:
- The CPU
- Externally powered external storage units (NAS, network storage units, external drives, etc.)
- Networking router to the Internet
Monitor … that is the one thing that can potentially drain a lot of power, so I recommend not plugging it to battery — because if the power goes out while you are not there, the monitor can drain the UPS before you get home. I‘d say leave the monitor off the “battery” side of the UPS, and only connect it to battery when you are there and want to “see” what’s going on with the CPU during an outage.
Why prioritize networking stuff? Because lots of applications sync to cloud/servers on the Internet these days. I prefer to minimize the risk of network sync‘ing getting interrupted at an inopportune time. Besides, if there are real problems, you would likely want to consult resources on the Internet for advise on how to deal with those problems. Most networking equipment typically do not use much power, definitely no where near as much as an active monitor, so I feel comfortable prioritizing protecting the networking switch/router ahead of the monitor.
Depends on what UPS you use, it may even come with software that will recognize when the UPS is triggered and will attempt to send you a notification telling you the UPS has been triggered and then tell your CPU to gracefully shutdown … you will get that notification only if your connection to the Internet stays alive long enough for that notification to be sent.
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Order of what to protect first:
- The CPU
- Externally powered external storage units (NAS, network storage units, external drives, etc.)
- Networking router to the Internet
Monitor … that is the one thing that can potentially drain a lot of power, so I recommend not plugging it to battery — because if the power goes out while you are not there, the monitor can drain the UPS before you get home. I‘d say leave the monitor off the “battery” side of the UPS, and only connect it to battery when you are there and want to “see” what’s going on with the CPU during an outage.
Why prioritize networking stuff? Because lots of applications sync to cloud/servers on the Internet these days. I prefer to minimize the risk of network sync‘ing getting interrupted at an inopportune time. Besides, if there are real problems, you would likely want to consult resources on the Internet for advise on how to deal with those problems. Most networking equipment typically do not use much power, definitely no where near as much as an active monitor, so I feel comfortable prioritizing protecting the networking switch/router ahead of the monitor.
Depends on what UPS you use, it may even come with software that will recognize when the UPS is triggered and will attempt to send you a notification telling you the UPS has been triggered and then tell your CPU to gracefully shutdown … you will get that notification only if your connection to the Internet stays alive long enough for that notification to be sent.
@Axtremus thanks for your thoughts. I'm an old geezer and fading for the evening after another (cheap) Scotch, so I'll look again in the AM.
I have little reliance on
Someone Else's Computer The Cloud, so everything is stored and backed up locally. The cloud is more of a convenience for me than anything else.If my house burned down, I'd lose all of my local backups, of course. However, I have all critical stuff backed up to iCloud which I can access from any web browser or any iOS device.
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Order of what to protect first:
- The CPU
- Externally powered external storage units (NAS, network storage units, external drives, etc.)
- Networking router to the Internet
Monitor … that is the one thing that can potentially drain a lot of power, so I recommend not plugging it to battery — because if the power goes out while you are not there, the monitor can drain the UPS before you get home. I‘d say leave the monitor off the “battery” side of the UPS, and only connect it to battery when you are there and want to “see” what’s going on with the CPU during an outage.
Why prioritize networking stuff? Because lots of applications sync to cloud/servers on the Internet these days. I prefer to minimize the risk of network sync‘ing getting interrupted at an inopportune time. Besides, if there are real problems, you would likely want to consult resources on the Internet for advise on how to deal with those problems. Most networking equipment typically do not use much power, definitely no where near as much as an active monitor, so I feel comfortable prioritizing protecting the networking switch/router ahead of the monitor.
Depends on what UPS you use, it may even come with software that will recognize when the UPS is triggered and will attempt to send you a notification telling you the UPS has been triggered and then tell your CPU to gracefully shutdown … you will get that notification only if your connection to the Internet stays alive long enough for that notification to be sent.
@Axtremus said in How to set up my new Mac?:
Monitor … that is the one thing that can potentially drain a lot of power, so I recommend not plugging it to battery — because if the power goes out while you are not there,
I'm "not there" infrequently, so...
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I just have the PC and monitor powered via the battery - I want the monitor to work if the power goes, since otherwise it's going to be a real annoyance re-routing the power to shut everything down.
Everything else is powered from the non-battery outputs on the UPS, since otherwise they would use up power unnecessarily.
I don't leave my PC on when I'm not there, and if I do anything important is going to be saved anyway so I'm unlikely to lose files.
