With the hurricane season upon us, now is a good time to look at your technology disaster plan. Do you even have a technology disaster plan? This is the first article in a series on making your technology storm ready.
Dealing with loss of power
One of the first things to happen during most storms is the electricity goes out. If you are working on something during a power failure, your work may be lost. The investment in a good uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can prevent critical loss of data.
The UPS typically will provide constant power to equipment during power fluctuations and for a short period of time after a blackout has occurred. For a typical computer workstation a low cost UPS can be purchased that will allow the equipment attached to it to stay functional through a 15 minute power loss. This gives the end user enough time to close out of any open application, save what ever data is currently being processed and safely power down the device.
Don't confuse a UPS with a surge protector, which is used to prevent a short term voltage surge from damaging your equipment. If you are using a UPS, it will take the place of a surge protector, do not use both together.
If you are looking to stay operational for an extended period of time, you should be thinking about a back up generator, not a UPS. Even if your computer is attached to a power line that is protected by a back up generator, having a UPS as well is a good idea. There are often momentary lags in power and power surges as generators kick in, and regular power switches on and off, and a UPS will keep a constant current to your device.
Two main manufacturers of UPS devices are American Power Conversion Corp (APC) and Tripp Lite. Both lines of products are available at most office products stores and large department stores. Use the links to the manufacturers listed above to do a little homework before you go shopping. For a single workstation, UPS prices start at less that $100, which is a small price to pay to keep your data protected from the effects of a sudden power loss.
The products mentioned in this article are just a representative sampling of what is available, and by no means imply that these are the best products for your specific use. The intent is for this to be a starting point, and catalyst, to start thinking about your personal technology disaster plan. Even if the current storm passes with little disruption to your daily routine, let this serve as your fire drill to assess what you have in place, and how well you would have done if you had been hit by the storm.
In our next we will address remote backup services. To stay informed on Wilmington Technology News, or to share your Technology News, follow Tom Peracchio @Gu42 on Twitter or Guru42 on Facebook.
Comments
Good information to have so technology sources in the home can ge protected during a storm.
Good info. I should look into a UPS.
very informative article
Nice job, and very timely.
Very good information and useful to anyone. One thing I do is use an external hard drive that can be quickly disconnected and taken to safety in case of serious disaster. I back up everything (clone) my internal drive at least once a day.
I can grab that external and be out the door in under ten seconds. If something really bad happens faster than that, maybe my data will be the least of my problems?
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