Running The Mac Mini Non-stop

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Level 1

15 points

Running The Mac Mini Non-stop

Does anyone have experience or an opinion on running the Mac Mini continuously non-stop for long periods of time (e.g. months)? Let's assume that sleep mode is disabled.

How will this affect the reliability of the machine?

I do this to my PC and they seem fine. Just wondering if the Mac Mini will do okay.

Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz; 2 GB RAM; OS X 10.4.6

Posted on Apr 3, 2006 8:11 PM

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Answer 1

mhunter

Level 6

9,191 points

Apr 3, 2006 9:07 PM in response to Albertus

I have had mine turned-on for about a year now. No problems at all.

I use it every day, and only turn it off when the power goes out (which obviously means I have no choice).

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Answer 2

Apr 3, 2006 9:17 PM in response to Albertus

My Mac mini has also been running for more than a year without sleep enabled. It only restarts for system updates. So far, there haven't been any issues at all.

-Doug

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Answer 3

Apr 3, 2006 8:58 PM in response to Albertus

I can tell you almost for certain that the mini will be fine running for long periods of time with Sleep Mode enabled. Without it, you should probably turn it off every couple months.

Ilya

Mac Mini | 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo | 1GB RAM | 80GB HD | Mac OS X Tiger soon Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Answer 4

Albertus Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 4, 2006 5:51 AM in response to Albertus

Thanks to all of you who responded.

Apple Mac Mini Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz 2 GB RAM, 120GB hard disk, OS X 10.4.6

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Answer 5

Apr 4, 2006 4:36 PM in response to Albertus

A few quick items:

1) I agree with all who posted. You should have no problem leaving the Mini on indefinitely.

2) Go to your System Preferences and select the Energy Saving Option (It looks like a light bulb). Check off to turn the Hard Drive off when possible, Select Sleep, Never and set your monitor to power down when you want it to.

3) If you have a broadband internet connection where it is always on, you want to make sure your firewall is up. Go to System Preferences, select Sharing and then select Firewall. Turn it on for your protection. You probably don't need it if you have a router, but just in case.

Good luck!

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