Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
Hi all,

As a few days ago, I finally switched over to Mac and bought myself a Mac Mini (hell, I love this machine so far!). I was wondering if it was "safe" to leave it on and not turn it off for several days/weeks? Also, to make the best of Time Machine, I plugged a 1TB USB hard drive to it (usb powered, no external power supply) and plan to leave it turned on as well.

Do anyone see a reason not to do this? I used to leave my PC always on as well but the case is huge and it's loaded with multiple fans so I'm wondering if the Mini can support the same treatment.

Thank you for your time and answers!
 
Last edited:

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
It is perfectly fine to leave Macs on for years without a restart or shut down.

:) Nice thing to know (well, I would have guessed so as it is UNIX based) but my question was more related to the hardware. I wouldn't like it to overheat or something like that. I read somewhere that mini are, from a hardware point of view, more similar to a laptop than a desktop machine. Also the same question applies to my external HD.
 

VPrime

macrumors 68000
Dec 19, 2008
1,722
86
London Ontario
I am running a mac mini for a server. It has been on 24/7 for the past year. Also has a 1.5tb external drive which has been on at the same time.
No issues :)
 

Akarin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
290
17
Nyon, Switzerland
I am running a mac mini for a server. It has been on 24/7 for the past year. Also has a 1.5tb external drive which has been on at the same time.
No issues :)

Excellent... that's the answer I was looking for as it seems you didn't burn your house down nor had the external drive melt :p
 

penguy

macrumors 6502
Feb 20, 2007
377
8
CA
Excellent... that's the answer I was looking for as it seems you didn't burn your house down nor had the external drive melt :p

by on, do you mean active? as in never going to sleep? My mini's have been on since I purchased them...the first in 2005, the second in 2009. Neither is turned off, but both go to sleep when I do. I also run a 1TB FW800 drive for time machine...no problems
 

Fastcast

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2008
18
0
A slightly different question but I believe it relates to this topic.

We have 2 new Mini's and both have external HD backup drives. Before being turned into Time Machines, they would go to sleep when you put the Mini to sleep but after turning them into TMs they no longer sleep when the Mini sleeps. Anyone know why that is?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.