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sean

UPS

Given the flakiness of our leccie supply, and that I now have important work stuff on the computer I was wondering whether some sort of back up power supply thingie would be a good idea. If people think it is a good idea what sort of thing/amount of money am I looking at? I only need it for the mac, because we can just avoid using the laptops if necessary.
jema

Re: UPS

sean wrote:
Given the flakiness of our leccie supply, and that I now have important work stuff on the computer I was wondering whether some sort of back up power supply thingie would be a good idea. If people think it is a good idea what sort of thing/amount of money am I looking at? I only need it for the mac, because we can just avoid using the laptops if necessary.



I would not be without mine. I bought two for about £90 each last year, they are belkin models and have sat quietly under the desk protecting the £1000's worth of information on my systems.

Every now and again you will here a "beep" as they kick in momentarily as power fluctuates. Ohter appliances crash at this point, but those connected to the Belkins ALWAYS carry on as if nothing has happened.
Round here every so often was once a week, which is what scared me into getting them. Lately I cannot recall when I last heard them, but like other protective devices like backup and a firewall, I have come to regard them as an essential.
Given the value of what is on a PC these days, it is getting to be like running a car without seatbelts or wind screen wipers!
judith

Here at the unfashionable end of the grid, we get dips once every couple of hours. The lights dim, the phone resets, but my Belkin just beeps to itself and computer remains upright.
It took a month of living here with the computer restarting several times a day to convince me of their usefulness.
dougal

Re: UPS

sean wrote:
... I only need it for the mac, because we can just avoid using the laptops if necessary.

Ummm. Laptops have an *integral* UPS - the battery!

The question is what you need to protect against -
Blackouts - no power at all - UPS
Brown outs - reduced voltage - all-in-the-screen iMac power supply is good down to 90 volts (IIRC) - UPS for other folk without worldwide power supply on their computer
Voltage spikes/surges - eg from lightening - a surge arrester (or maybe an 'online' UPS)
'Noise' ("interference") - eg from machinery nearby - a filter (or maybe an 'online' UPS)

Note that Surge suppression and filtering are NOT intrinsically provided by ordinary "offline" UPS's. (But many of them may have those additional functions.)

In the UK, where most power is supplied underground to premises, but phone lines run above ground, IMHO surge protection is most important on the *phone* line. (In the USA its different - power is often distributed above ground.)
sean

Just about all the above, except noise. And our power supply is'nt underground either.
dougal

Then an investment of (??) £30 in surge suppression for power and phone line is well worthwhile.

No need anything else for laptops.

And with the iMac's psu, protecting you against Brownouts, a UPS is only going to make a difference when the lights go out completely, and only for that machine. (Ignoring printers, routers, etc.) Do check the power 'brick' - it should be something like 90-250v input.

I'd be looking at surge suppression ASAP and only bothering about a UPS after your lottery win or whatever. (Unless the lights DO go out frequently...)

Is your hard disk formatted with the *journaling* version of HFS+? (Get Info on the disk should tell you). With that there *should* be relatively little risk of data corruption from a power cut. Apart from inconvenience, thats the only actual *risk* that a UPS would protect you against.
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