How to program my MacPro5,1 on UPS to Shut Down, when the power goes low

Question

Level 1

11 points

How to program my MacPro5,1 on UPS to Shut Down, when the power goes low

Hello I have an old desktop MacPro 5,1, running Mac OS 10.13.6. I have recently purchased an APC UPS so I can carefully shutdown a NAS and my MAC when the power goes out and not lose any data etc. I tried going through System Preferences > Energy Saver but I don't see any UPS options.

My gut feeling is my desktop thinks it's a laptop and therefore doesn't offer the UPS option in Systems Preferences. My MacPro's OS and all the Applications is on an SSD, which is mounted on a PCIe Card that has a SATA connection. The card is made by OWC and can currently be found at this URL:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe/OWC/Mercury-Accelsior/S-Carrier

Perhaps I'm wrong. and something else is causing the missing UPS option in system preferences. I would appreciate any help to allow me to set my Macpro 5,1 to Shutdown during a power outage.

Thank You for any help

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Mar 9, 2025 1:14 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Scarpogre Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 9, 2025 8:00 PM in response to John Galt

Oops replied to myself

My model is not an APC but a CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD (oops, my brain goes numb sometimes).

After reading your reply I gathered my working USB hubs to connect the UPS then connect it the NAS and MacPro. Here are my results:

-When I either connected the MacPro OR NAS I can tell it what to do when the power is low (a single coonection)

-When a USB hub is connected to the UPS and then is connected to both MacPro AND the NAS, no connection is made (I tried both hubs I have)

-When a USB hub is connected to the UPS and then is connected to either MacPro OR NAS (single connection), no connection is made

So from this I am assuming I can tell either the NAS or MacPro to shutdown when the power is or low. I will keep it attached to my NAS since I have more data to lose there.

Thank you for your help

Reply

Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

155,060 points

Mar 9, 2025 2:58 PM in response to Scarpogre

All I can tell you is that there should be options for the UPS, and no particular configuration nor software is required. I don't believe the SSD is a factor either.

The UPS is connected to the Mac with a USB cable, no?

For reference: Energy Saver preferences on Mac - Apple Support

Sample screenshots (not for HS but yours should be similar)

Reply

Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

155,060 points

Mar 9, 2025 5:58 PM in response to Scarpogre

The USB port I'm asking about is for communication with the Mac. Not all UPSs offer that feature. What model is yours?

Reply

Answer 4

Scarpogre Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 9, 2025 5:29 PM in response to John Galt

Hello John Galt,

The UPS only has 1 USB port and I attached that to my NAS (more data to lose). I guess I should get USB A to B hub so I can connect both the MacPro and NAS to the same port on the UPS.

The OS and apps on an SSD shouldn't be the problem if it was in one of the machine's SATA ports. Since the ssd is in the PCIe card's SATA port, makes it seen as an external drive, which is what caused my concern.

Time to get another hub.

Thank you John Galt for your help

Reply

Answer 5

Scarpogre Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 9, 2025 7:41 PM in response to John Galt

My model is not an APC but a CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD (oops, my brain goes numb sometimes).

After reading your reply I gathered my working USB hubs to connect the UPS then connect it the NAS and MacPro. Here are my results:

-When I either connected the MacPro OR NAS I can tell it what to do when the power is low (a single coonection)

-When a USB hub is connected to the UPS and then is connected to both MacPro AND the NAS, no connection is made (I tried both hubs I have)

-When a USB hub is connected to the UPS and then is connected to either MacPro OR NAS (single connection), no connection is made

So from this I am assuming I can tell either the NAS or MacPro to shutdown when the power is or low. I will keep it attached to my NAS since I have more data to lose there.

Thank you for your help

Reply

Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

155,060 points

Mar 10, 2025 1:23 AM in response to Scarpogre

It's up to you but I don't think that's the right way to do it. Connect the USB cable to the Mac. That way, it can command an orderly shutdown, which will unmount the NAS and preclude any data loss. That's how I have all my devices connected. Some locations have very unreliable power and I have never experienced any data loss.

Reply

Answer 7

Scarpogre Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 10, 2025 12:40 PM in response to John Galt

I just got another, smaller, UPS. The MacPro on the bigger UPS and NAS on the smaller UPS will safely shutdown. A few members of my family in different cities, have access to my NAS so if they're accessing the NAS it will still safely shutdown if the power goes out and not lose data.

Thank you for your help

Reply

Answer 8

Camelot

Level 9

58,245 points

Mar 10, 2025 2:09 PM in response to Scarpogre

> I guess I should get USB A to B hub so I can connect both the MacPro and NAS to the same port on the UPS.

No. That won't work. USB doesn't work that way.

USB is a host-device based protocol, where the host system (e.g. a computer) communicates with a device (keyboard, mouse, printer, UPS, etc.). There can be one and only one host system on any given setup. Devices on the USB topology cannot talk to each other except via the host system.

(in special cases where it looks like you connect two hosts (such as two computers together for data transfer), internally they negotiate as to which one is the host and which one is the device).

Your Mac will always act as the Host/master device. It will not communicate with another host/master device since that is not permitted in the USB standards.

Similarly, the UPS (assuming it acts as device/slave) will only talk to one host device.

Adding a hub into this mix will, at best, do nothing; at worst, break the existing UPS communication with the NAS.

Either the UPS will talk to the first device it sees (most likely), or it will flip-flop between them so the computer intermittently sees the UPS as available and offline.

It's not like the old serial days where the UPS would simply raise (or lower) a voltage on the line to indicate its status.

Reply

Answer 9

John Galt

Level 10

155,060 points

Mar 11, 2025 6:41 AM in response to Scarpogre

That's the right way to do it.

Reply

How to program my MacPro5,1 on UPS to Shut Down, when the power goes low

Similar questions