Battery backup

I have an Imac and three external drives I want to keep protected.
Please recommend a battery backup.

Something like this perhaps? It's kind of a drag the outlets are close together because some drive power supplies will block a port.
[www.amazon.com]

Thank you

You need to calculate the load on the devices, then find a suitable UPS unit.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thirteen months ago, after reading this post from Loren Miller, I hurriedly installed an Eaton 5110 UPS. It works, now that I've tied the cabling into it, but I wonder each day whether it is more reliable than having no UPS. My building's power hasn't failed in the eight years I've been here. What is the total-failure-without-warning rate for this inexpensive UPS? Loren's earlier post reminds that some buildings and cities have more reliable power than others. Then we need some measure of the failure rates of various UPSs to decide if they're worthwhile for us.

Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany

I sometimes ask myself the same question, Then suddenly the lights dim and the UPS tower alarm beeps briefly and that's as far as voltage change goes-- computer and drives hum along oblivious. I've only had one complete blackout when a nearby pole transformer blew during a storm. Plenty of time to save and shut down. That's the way it should be. It's just a layer of safety for your mission critical hardware, especially if you have no control over the quality of the power.

The only change to my original post is the price, which depends on the load as mentioned above. I bought a BackUps XS 1000-watt tower from APC which guards my 2009 Mac Pro with 5 internal drives, 2 monitors, three external drives (LaCie, G-Tech, and whatever clients bring in), and paid about US$170.00 several years ago. The least expensive UPS (with AVR, which I always prefer), usually runs about a hundred, and that brick would power an iMac and a few drives during a blackout for enough time to save, quit, and shut down.

You should plan to replace the unit after five years of continuous use. Indicators on the tower will also tell you when the battery's going brown.

- Loren

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