by Recently, a power outage caused data corruption on one of my drives, leaving some of the data unrecoverable. However, this issue could have been preempted. One solution: A UPS (or uninterruptible power supply) can provide backup power to your Mac and connected drives should you have a power outage, giving your Mac the ability to shutdown properly, keeping your data intact. We’ll show you how to select, and set up a UPS system to work with your Mac. Continue reading to learn more.
Selecting a UPS Device
A UPS is essentially a smart power strip that includes a battery that can power devices in the event there is a power outage or brown out. Most UPS devices can also protect your devices from power surges, and variations in your home electrical system.
The majority of new UPS devices will be able to connect to your Mac via a USB connection. This connection (if compatible with the Mac), will relay important battery information to your Mac so that the Mac can shutdown when prompted. Most APC UPS devices will work seamlessly with the built-in OS X software for setting UPS settings.
Selecting Your UPS Power Settings
Once connected to your Mac via USB, you will be able to navigate to System Preferences > Energy Saver > UPS. Here, you will be able to see the charge status of the UPS, and set some important settings for how your computer should react to changes in the power.
Here, you can change your Mac’s sleep and display sleep preferences when it’s running on UPS battery power. For more options, select Shutdown Options.
In this pop up dialog, you will be able to select various shutdown options, including:
– Shut down the computer after using the UPS battery for x minutes
– Shut down the computer when the time remaining on UPS battery is x minutes
– Shut down the computer when the UPS battery level is below x percentage
You can check multiple shutdown options, and the rule that is reached first will trigger the shutdown process should the power go out and the computer begin running on the UPS battery backup.
To configure the timed shutdown options, you will want to know two variables: how long the battery pack in your UPS is rated to run, and how long your Mac takes to completely shutdown properly.
Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article’s author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
