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How do Minis hold up when they are on 24/7?

W

wallet

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 11, 2011
2
0
Ok im looking at the mini as a computer to be left on most of the day every day to be primarily used as a fileserver for home. Probably have an external HDD attached which can store all my media files and such with easy access. Is there any issues in doing so? do the parts inside get very hot and or unstable?

I know the mini is marketed also as a server so im guessing that it should be able to handle long uptimes.


Also I havent used a mac extensively in several years but do they still have a lot of compatibilty issues like with usb devices and some networking issues with windows pcs? Im going on the assumption that it will be a lot less of a problem these days as they are more popular.

If im successful with this mini I might move most of my other products over to apple.
 
I have one of the older plastic Minis that I leave on all day long, everyday. It works well and I have yet to have a problem with five years of near continuous running. There are in fact, large companies that do nothing but host people's Mini's in large buildings, always on. Here's one: http://macminicolo.net/
 
I have two 09 Minis (one early, the other late) I leave on 24/7 except when installing software updates etc.
 
I had one running for about 6 months without any downtime except maybe one power outage and one software update that required a restart. So they are pretty reliable.
 
The one I have right beside me (next to my newly acquired PowerMac G5 Dual Core 2.3Ghz beast :D) was used as a dedicated server I do believe for my brother's company Avatar Labs (check 'em out for anyone interested in graphics design and animation, located in Tarzana, CA).


And it still runs like new! Granted, one stick of RAM went bad, but I think that wasn't attributed to it being run (afaik) 24/7, replaced the stick (Logic Board RAM slots are all fine) and runs like new.


Very reliable machines I've found.
 
ive been running my mini for over a year as a file server/ media server, no problems, i run smcFancontrol to keep the fan running a big higher than usual & i use as Raid 1 external drive for file storage
 
My original Mac Mini has been on most the of the time* since it was purchased in August 2006. You should be fine.


*it shuts down for 5 minutes on a Sunday 05:00 every week (probably doesn't need to, but I like a planned shutdown :) )
 
to put it in perspective...

i have a Mac Cube (yes the one from 2000) and it has been on since then basically. One hard drive failure and a reboot maybe once a month. It shares a HDD for my network and is now my print server and the kids web surfing PC. I rarely turn it off and it has been AOK.

-Rippey
 
blunti said:
it only harms the electricity bills :D


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You'd think so, but it really depends on what hardware your running. Overall though your not going to get anything drawing less power than a Mini, its gonna cost a couple of £ a month tops :)
 
Paulywauly said:
You'd think so, but it really depends on what hardware your running. Overall though your not going to get anything drawing less power than a Mini, its gonna cost a couple of £ a month tops :)
Click to expand...

ahh great! Im planning on getting one to use as a file server for my MP. MP boost the bill a wee bit too much when running 24/7 but i guess that's not the same with the mini:)


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How much power do they consume though to leave on 24/7.

I have two Apple TV's one ATV1 and one ATV2 and my son always has the Mini server on when he watches tv, just wondering if that will add to our electric bill as I know Apple says they are very low power consumption, but I still wonder?
 
blunti said:
ahh great! Im planning on getting one to use as a file server for my MP. MP boost the bill a wee bit too much when running 24/7 but i guess that's not the same with the mini:)


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As an example, Im not sure if its the current Mini or the last revision used 12 watts when idle. Basically if my maths is right you could leave it on, completly idle for 100 hours and it'd cost about £0.08 pence to run (without peripherals) thats about 5-6 Cents if evergy prices are comparable in the USA
 
Not a problem with leaving it on 24/7. In fact when I restart it, I notice it slows down in the initial start up.
 
Last I checked - energy costs in the US were either 1/3 or 1/2 that of the EU - one of the reasons households over there use far less power than ours. :(

That said - and back on topic - I have a unibody Mini, it's usually on 24-7. Runs pretty cool, I have a larger / faster HD in it (aftermarket) along with 8GB of ram. I run it as a media server / HTPC and use it for secondary OS via Parallels. So in short, when not sleeping, it gets a decent workout, and no problems thusfar.

Last restart I did was at nearly 60 days uptime.

It has frozen once - power indicator on, but no response, I chalk that up to something relating to HDMI and HDCP - as it was running a HD movie at the time before sleeping.

The only thing I don't like about this is the fact it's got a C2D - 5 years after my iMac had nearly the same CPU when it was new. That said, if they had a newer I series - Apple would be shooting themselves in the foot upstream.

I am impressed at how fast this thing restarts, just 10 seconds and it's back online.
 
blunti said:
it only harms the electricity bills :D


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A Mac Mini won't raise that electricity bill enough to notice.

The only computer that I owned that raised my bill to double the amount in the summer was a Mac Pro 8 core. I used it for Seti 24/7 one summer and my bill literally doubled. I had it set to use all 8 cores. Once I got the first bill, I stopped using it for that. I sold the Mac Pro a year later.
 
I run a mac min 2009 24/7 along with a drobo for storage for almost two years barring when the drobo was being replaced twice.

I restart for software updates and had to restart 3 times for screen distortion.

Other then that has been running fine for just over 2 years now.
 
Mini's on for a long period of time

I have 2 Mini's that never get shut off. One original mini - and one that is about a year old - neither have ever given me a bit of trouble
 
Same report as everyone else here: my unibody mini has been on for 13 months straight, only restarting for software updates. It's headless and is used for downloading, media streaming, and DVD/Blu-Ray encoding.
 
I have a March 2009 one that's been going ever since then more or less, other than internal upgrades, restarts, and a power outage* here and there. I also have another one from a few months later that has also been in constant duty since buying it.

*If you have a good battery they can keep the mini going for hours...it's everything else I have attached that sucks the battery life.
 
All the computers in my signature have been running since the day they were new. Only an occasional hard drive failure and yearly dust cleaning maintenance shut them down.
 
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