Power outage while iMac was plugged in

[Mr. 123]

Hello,

a few days ago we suffered a power outage while my iMac was turned on. It was the first power outage in years so I was very surprised.

The iMac was in sleep mode but had been or was still installing a sample library on an external SSD.

After turning it back on I don't notice much difference, but when loading samples from this external SSD I get some lags.

Has anyone suffered a power outage with the iMac turned on? and if so, any tests I should run, anything I can do to solve this Logic Pro lag or anything I can do in the future to prevent this from happening again (more than just always turning it of when I'm not using it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[cwanja]

I cannot speak to the Logic Pro issues, but to prevent an issue like this in the future you would want to use an uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This device is similar to that of a power supply, but contains a battery. If the power from the outlet is cut (i.e. a power outage), the battery kicks in. Most come with software that you can configure the iMac to "safe" shutdown if a power outage is detected and is not restored before the battery in the USP is depleted. However, in your very specific situation of copying, if it tried to "safe" shut down and could not end the transfer, I am unsure what would happen.

 

[HDFan]

The problem is only the data transfer rate from the external SSD? Have you run any diagnostic tools: disk utility, TechTool Pro, etc. on the drive? If you have run the BlackMagic tests earlier, you can compare the earlier results with the current ones.

A UPS should reduce the possibility of future problems as cwanja says.

 

[Fishrrman]

IF it booted right up again, and runs ok, I wouldn't do anything drastic.

 

[Mr. 123]

IF it booted right up again, and runs ok, I wouldn't do anything drastic.

I am basically only noticing lags when using Logic Pro X. That could have something to with the external SSD or the computer I guess.

I’ve always had a laptop before so never thought about the dangers of desktop computers (I had never heard about UPS until it was mentioned in this thread)
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The problem is only the data transfer rate from the external SSD? Have you run any diagnostic tools: disk utility, TechTool Pro, etc. on the drive? If you have run the BlackMagic tests earlier, you can compare the earlier results with the current ones.

A UPS should reduce the possibility of future problems as cwanja says.

Is there a way to securely repair the external ssd through disc utility if there is a problem?

 

[HDFan]

Is there a way to securely repair the external ssd through disc utility if there is a problem?

Does the SSD show in Disk Utility? If so have you run First Aid - after backing it up?

 

[Mr. 123]

Does the SSD show in Disk Utility? If so have you run First Aid - after backing it up?

It does show in disc utility but I haven’t tried to run first aid. I will try this after having backed up the content to another external drive.

 

[Fishrrman]

I don't think I've ever "backed up" before running "Repair Disk" in Disk Utility...

 

[Mr. 123]

I don't think I've ever "backed up" before running "Repair Disk" in Disk Utility...

So backing up is completely unnecessary?

 

[Fishrrman]

"So backing up is completely unnecessary?"

Yes. My opinion only.
Run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" feature and be done with it.

 

[HDFan]

"So backing up is completely unnecessary?"

Yes. My opinion only.
Run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" feature and be done with it.

If Repair disk "repairs" your photos file directory length to 0 and you lose all of your photos you would be happy with that? Repair utilities do their best, but disk errors occur and things get lost. I just deleted hundreds of files that had their length changed to 0 by some disk repair I made in the past. Luckily they were in directories (multiple locations!) of old downloads that I hadn't deleted so there it wasn't any loss. I was lucky.