I live in rural Ireland and power cuts are very common. The other night while I was using my computer we had another power cut which only lasted about five minutes as I wasn’t finished what I was doing I turned on the computer again only to have the power cut off again.
I have been told that this can damage the computer ,but it doesn’t seemed to have been damaged yet even though this has happened a number of times.
So can the computer be damaged by these power cuts ?
RORY
It is more often power spikes associated with cuts that can cause immediate damage to circuit boards, but some disk drives can object strongly if they do not get a proper amount of time to spin up to speed or spin down safely. This kind of damaged drive can usually be recovered, or at least, the data retrieved to a new drive.
Better to get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These can be software controled to keep your PC still running for a few minutes through a power cut or fluctuation, and be set to automatically shut your PC down in a safe, controled manner if the power stays off for more than several minutes. The only tricky bit with a UPS is to determine the voltage demand of your PC, so that you buy a UPS sized sufficient to meet its needs.
djm
The hardware isn’t going to be hurt too much.
If you get a power spike at the time of the
cutoff, that might do some damage, but the
loss of power itself is not terrible for hardware.
Software is a different matter (depending on
your operating system). Windows can queue
up saves to the harddrive until the HD is ready.
If the power goes out before a save is finished,
you could lose data from that save. Likewise,
if you have a USB flashdrive and you’ve written
to it, but haven’t done the “disconnect hardware”
step before power goes out, you may lose data
(and occasionally, the flashdrive may become
unuseable).
A lot of this can be smoothed out by purchasing
a Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS). They have
a battery that will provide the PC with power for
a certain period of time if the power to your house
is dead. The cheaper ones (under US$100) give
you a few minutes. Between US$100 and US$300,
you’ll probably have about 15 minutes of battery
time.
What sort of computer? If it’s a laptop, the switching power incorporates basic surge protection. Otherwise a UPS is the way to go. Even the smallest ones will give a typical desktop 5-10 minutes, enough time to shut down what you’re doing.
I think the UPS will be the way to go for me so thanks for the advice.I get more than my fair share of power cuts so I’ll have to do something before some damage is done.Last year was particularly bad for power cuts,we had about twenty in the year but I remember having four in one week and after complaining and getting a promise from the manager that all the problems had been solved we got another cut two days later.
RORY
Not all UPSs are built the same. I personally would recommend UPSs from American Power Conversion (APC).
(no, I don’t have any ties to this company).
djm
Usually when power drops, if it cuts off cleanly, it’s not likely to damage hardware.
However, when power comes back on, it can certainly cause a spike that can damage your equipment. It’s best to unplug your PC (or other electronics) from the wall until the power comes back on. I usually let the power be and stable for ten minutes or so before I start powering things back up.
I’ve seen more than just computers damaged by that initial surge; several years ago, we lost a VCR to just that.
–James
You can lose just about anything electrical to power spikes, phones, fridges, TVs, etc. That’s why it’s important to get powerbars with surge protection. However, the metal oxide strip in these eventually gets used up, so it’s a good idea if you have a lot of power problems to replace your powerbars every 3-5 years.
djm
We get lots of power cuts in Cornwall, mostly momentary. The other night we had 14 in half an hour. My main computer is a laptop these days and I just leave the battery attached, which cuts in when the mains power goes off. The whole setup is protected by a surge protector. I’d be interested to know if anyone thinks I’m doing anything wrong.
good move with the parenthetical modifier…
For starters, it sounds like you’re living in Baghdad…
Why is UK power so unreliable? Or is it a rural thing?
If we had more than, say, an annual blackout around
here, the Progress Energy execs would wish they
worked at AIG (badabing!)
Kinda takes the fun out of it. 
djm
Rural thing. And I’m askin’, not you!
OK. I did debate with myself as to whether to put it in or not. So, as you may observe, I’ve edited it out of the post. Make my day, punks!
aw, ya know that if I felt like it I’d a just gone ahead and ignored it after the acknowledgment
oh…yer question: you should be okay.
Steve, I agree with Denny: you should be fine with that setup.
Might want to also have a surge protector for your router / modem / access point, depending on the particulars of how you connect.
–James
Got everything wired up to surge protectors. I recommend 'em. A flash of lightning on Christmas Day 1999 wrecked our telephone line, blasted a phone right off the kitchen wall and smashed it to pieces on the floor, and nearly set fire to our bedroom. Once bitten! 
I vaguely remember reading something about laptop batteries not lasting as long if you leave them permanently attached. Something to do with the heat of the processor.
When living in the country, I fried a couple of modems due to lightning strikes on some nearby telephone pole before I found a surge protector for a telephone jack.
Luckily, I suppose, the modem would blow like a ($50) fuse, keeping the surge from the rest of the computer, which would have been harder to replace.
That happened to me two years ago as well. I managed to hoodwink the ISP into believing that it wasn’t anything to do with me - that their bloody modem was up the swanee! Last autumn another strike killed another telephone (yet, oddly, it didn’t knock out the line to the house). For a split second I thought the house was going to fall down round our ears. 
I found these cheap surge protectors in Homebase that had one mains socket and one telephone/modem jack socket, and my house is now full of the things. We shall see!