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Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
I ask this because having a remote power switch and "power on after power failure" would mean i could power it on remotely always, but it feels wrong turning it off by cutting power.
 

AZhappyjack

macrumors G3
Jul 3, 2011
9,616
22,726
Happy Jack, AZ
I ask this because having a remote power switch and "power on after power failure" would mean i could power it on remotely always, but it feels wrong turning it off by cutting power.

You could corrupt data but just killing power ... it definitely would not be an "orderly shutdown", so there's always a risk... but so far, I have never experienced an issue with just cutting power from time to time...
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,243
8,931
It's not safe because the computer does not get a chance to do its basic housekeeping chores before shutdown. Instead of trying to figure out how to turn on the Mac remotely, just leave it running 24/7.
 
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Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,667
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New Jersey Pine Barrens
I sure wouldn't just cut the power on any computer. Perhaps you could connect it to a small UPS? I think some of them include software to automatically shutdown the computer on a power failure. So, if you cut the power to the UPS, maybe it could initiate a proper shutdown?
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
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1,558
I sure wouldn't just cut the power on any computer. Perhaps you could connect it to a small UPS? I think some of them include software to automatically shutdown the computer on a power failure. So, if you cut the power to the UPS, maybe it could initiate a proper shutdown?

If that would work, that implies there's some way to remote control a Mini powerup/shutdown - and as far as i know there isn't.
 

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,667
4,552
New Jersey Pine Barrens
If that would work, that implies there's some way to remote control a Mini powerup/shutdown - and as far as i know there isn't.

Wouldn't this work? I have a few APC UPS'es, but have never used this software with them. If it works, you could just get a cheap UPS, connect it to your remote switch and set the PowerChute software to shut down 1 minute after the power turns off

https://www.schneider-electric.com/resources/sites/SCHNEIDER_ELECTRIC/content/live/FAQS/159000/FA159690/en_US/How to configure native shutdown on Macintosh OS.pdf?_ga=2.217896982.1030144463.1562610756-2143528213.1562610756
 

Partron22

macrumors 68030
Apr 13, 2011
2,655
808
Yes
90-Plus percent of the time, you can just pull the plug, and nothing bad happens.
In 35 years of using Macs, I've run into trouble a few times following power outages.
To be safest, shut the Mac down properly, and then cut the power.
Turn power back on and the Mac should boot.
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
Wouldn't this work? I have a few APC UPS'es, but have never used this software with them. If it works, you could just get a cheap UPS, connect it to your remote switch and set the PowerChute software to shut down 1 minute after the power turns off

https://www.schneider-electric.com/resources/sites/SCHNEIDER_ELECTRIC/content/live/FAQS/159000/FA159690/en_US/How to configure native shutdown on Macintosh OS.pdf?_ga=2.217896982.1030144463.1562610756-2143528213.1562610756

Neat! You still have to power it back up via the power button, right?

90-Plus percent of the time, you can just pull the plug, and nothing bad happens.
In 35 years of using Macs, I've run into trouble a few times following power outages.
To be safest, shut the Mac down properly, and then cut the power.
Turn power back on and the Mac should boot.
Yeah, the problem is that the power button is in a very inconvenient place.


------

to sum up, short of soldering off a wire off the power switch to somewhere where i want it, there's nothing i could really do?
 

nollimac

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2013
422
30
Neat! You still have to power it back up via the power button, right?


Yeah, the problem is that the power button is in a very inconvenient place.


------

to sum up, short of soldering off a wire off the power switch to somewhere where i want it, there's nothing i could really do?
I posted the solution for you above allowing you to power on/off via the Internet instead of speaking of soldering off wire.
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
I posted the solution for you above allowing you to power on/off via the Internet instead of speaking of soldering off wire.

Via the internet is still annoying tho, I just want a super simple power-switch that's not on the back of the mini.

I don't need to do it remotely, and it costs 130$.

I just want to tuck it in a sound proof drawer
 

dwig

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2015
902
444
Key West FL
Via the internet is still annoying tho, I just want a super simple power-switch that's not on the back of the mini.

I don't need to do it remotely, and it costs 130$.

I just want to tuck it in a sound proof drawer

If you do a "shutdown" in the macOS UI first and wait until shutdown finishes completely you should then be fine if you turn the computer off by turning off the power strip, or whatever.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,315
12,436
Since I began using OS X, I've found that if I "get in a bind", I can just reach down and TURN OFF the power strip to which my Mac is connected.

Somehow, it always boots right back up!
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
If you do a "shutdown" in the macOS UI first and wait until shutdown finishes completely you should then be fine if you turn the computer off by turning off the power strip, or whatever.

Yeah, just need to turn it on remotely then :S

that's why cutting it off via power strip would be a ""solution"", because it has a "power on after power failure" function.
 

nollimac

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2013
422
30
Via the internet is still annoying tho, I just want a super simple power-switch that's not on the back of the mini.

I don't need to do it remotely, and it costs 130$.

I just want to tuck it in a sound proof drawer

Sounds as if you need this then...I might have bought it on eBay, and I use it (with the remote) to turn on/off the first gen AppleTV.
Screen Shot 2019-07-11 at 6.24.17 PM.png
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
Sounds as if you need this then...I might have bought it on eBay, and I use it (with the remote) to turn on/off the first gen AppleTV.
View attachment 847785

still remains an issue of cutting power to the mac. If i could configure it to "automatically boot when there's power present" after a shutdown, that would work fine.
[doublepost=1562934487][/doublepost]https://superuser.com/questions/158...-into-dirty-shutdown-state-on-every-power-off

https://superuser.com/questions/848817/mac-start-automatically-when-getting-power

looks like i'm not the only one and this has been going on since mini was released.

jesus, it seems so stupid and simple to implement.
 

nollimac

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2013
422
30
wait sorry, could i just use this as a switch connected directly to the mini ethernet port?
It seems that it can...it's supposed to connect to the Internet or your local network so you call kill the power to the device...so, if you connect your Mac Mini directly to it the Ethernet port, you'll need to access the switch's IP address via a browser and a keyboard... The Mac Mini will need to be on the same network as the device.
 
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now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,614
22,163
Yanking the cord while the computer is on is not recommended. Although you may get away with it (for a while) eventually something will get corrupted. MacOS is always writing & reading to disc behind the curtains and you never know when it'll be writing t disk when the power goes out. If it does- a bunch of garbled garbage partial gets written to disc where it doesn't belong.
I'm sure you've noticed that MacOS takes quite a while to shut down after hitting the power button. That's cuz there's a lot of information it deems important to write to disc before it finally turns off.
 

madrag

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2007
371
92
I've never had problems with power outages and rebooting my Mac, although it does try to re-open the previously open apps (which I don't like and have set to not do that, but still it does in this particular case. The solution is to restart the Mac).

Even though (and as others have stated), it may be alright if it happens sporadically, I wouldn't trust it to be fine with a regular occurence.

One thing that I didn't understand, and also after reading the replies, is if you have seen the Energy Saver preferences, where you can schedule the startup of the Mac (or the shutdown, sleep, restart). Isn't that an option for you?
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 21, 2008
4,308
1,558
One thing that I didn't understand, and also after reading the replies, is if you have seen the Energy Saver preferences, where you can schedule the startup of the Mac (or the shutdown, sleep, restart). Isn't that an option for you?

nah, because my schedule is "when i arrive in the studio". If I do. :D
 
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