How power outages affect your PC and how to protect it

Power outages can happen at any time and when we least expect it, causing a whole host of problems. If you have one or more computers at home, you've probably wondered how power outages affect your PC and what you can do to protect it. Here's the full rundown.

How power outages affect your PC

Power outages are a common problem in many regions, whether due to grid failures, storms, or power surges. Other areas, however, enjoy a constant flow of electricity, so a sudden blackout, like the one Spain and Portugal experienced this Monday, catches the vast majority off guard. In any scenario, blackouts can cause serious damage to our electronic devices such as a computer or PC.

If you have a desktop computer at home, you may have wondered how power outages affect your PC. Although a power outage usually lasts a few minutes (or even several hours), it can cause permanent and even irreparable damage on desktop computers. Given this reality, it's worth heeding the proverb "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Before we go over the steps you can take to protect your computer from future power outages, let's look at how power outages affect your PC. Basically, a power outage can cause damage to your computer. computer hardware, which in turn causes failures in your operating system, files, and installed programs. In the worst case, a sudden power outage can Burning elements such as the power supply, motherboard, RAM memory or storage units.

Loss of unsaved data

Surely it has happened to you that, after a blackout, you turn on your computer and discover that the changes made were not savedPerhaps the error occurred when you were in the middle of an edit and didn't have time to save your last edit. This is especially unfortunate if you were using an application without autosave, such as design or video editing programs.

Operating system and file corruption

How do power outages affect your PC if they occur while the operating system is writing data to the hard drive? during program installation or while installing OS updates, the damage could be more severe. In these cases, files could become corrupted and inaccessible, requiring a fresh reinstall of the software or even a full reformat to correct errors.

How power outages affect your PC: Hardware damage

The above can be remedied and, in most cases, does not result in irreparable losses or permanent damage. However, if a power failure causes hardware damage, the consequences could be much more dire. A desktop computer It could become unusable after a power outage or due to an overload. electrical when the power returns.

How do power outages affect your PC at the hardware level? If your computer has a mechanical hard drive, you're at greater risk of permanent damage. This is because mechanical hard drives (HDDs) have moving parts that can be affected when the power is abruptly cut off. Bad sectors, scratches on the drive surface, and total file loss are some of the results.

On the other hand, when the power comes back on after a blackout, a electrical overload. As a result, unfortunate events such as:

• Damage to the power supply, which could burn out or stop working.
• Physical damage to memories and units of storage.
• Burning of chips and transistors within the circuits of the motherboard or cards (the worst that can happen).
• Reduction in equipment life, even when there is no immediate damage.

Measures to protect your computer from blackouts or power failures

Knowing how power outages affect your PC allows you to take steps to protect it from future power failures. Fortunately, there are several strategies to do so, some of which involve monetary costs. However, It is worth investing a little money to strengthen the security of our equipment., especially if we use them for work or study.

Use a voltage regulator

Never plug your desktop computer directly into the wall outlet. Instead, use a voltage regulator or surge protector. These devices are designed to suspend the flow of energy in the presence of voltage spikes, and thus prevent damage to the computer.

• The disadvantage of a regulator is that it does not prevent blackouts, but at least protects against spikes that can damage components.
• Choose one with surge protection (at least 600-1000 joules).
• And remember: Don't confuse it with a common power strip, which offers no protection of any kind.

Get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

If power outages are frequent in your area, it's best to invest in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These devices provide backup power during a blackout, giving you time (between 5 and 30 minutes) to save your work and safely shut down your computer.

• For a home PC, it is enough to purchase a UPS offline or standby (500VA to 1000VA), which activates the battery only when it detects a power outage.
• Choose brands, such as APC, CyberPower or Eaton.
• Connect the CPU and monitor to the UPS, not peripherals such as printers.

Replace the HDD with an SDD

Among the numerous Benefits of using an SSD instead of an HDD, there is the fact that it better withstands the impact of blackouts and overloads. Since it has no moving parts, is less prone to damage during a power outage. In addition, you'll notice a radical change in your equipment, both in terms of performance and speed.

Activate autosave in your programs and use cloud storage

Understanding how power outages affect your PC makes you aware that your files and programs are also at risk. Therefore, it's a good idea to activate autosave in the programs you use most, such as Word, Excel, or Photoshop. You can set them to automatically save at short intervals (1-5 minutes). Also consider: Use cloud storage to edit or backup of your most important files.