| It's that time of year again in South Africa, where | | | | still a good idea to create backups. |
| electricity becomes a gamble. It was this time last | | | | Prevention is usually better then a cure and back-ups |
| year when Cape Town was covered in darkness, at | | | | are recommended as the best solution. However, |
| different times, in different stages. This year, | | | | with the unpredictability of black outs, generally you |
| hopefully it will not happen, but already in the rural | | | | can only do this to a certain extent. There will be |
| areas it has started. | | | | times when you are right in the middle of something |
| With continuous power surges, business and | | | | and the electricity will be cut. There are programs |
| individuals are losing money and it's not only the ones | | | | that can help with this. They collect the data that |
| that are directly at harm, such as the shops with | | | | hasn't been saved in a cache and keep it until it has |
| fridges risk losing produce. Power surges are also | | | | been saved. |
| causing problems with all companies and individuals | | | | By doing this, if a power cut happens, once the |
| that rely on computers. The surge before the | | | | computer is running again, you can retrieve your data |
| electricity blacks out damages the PC, causing the life | | | | from the cache, without any permanent information |
| span of a hard drive to drop. | | | | being lost. The other option is to invest in a battery |
| When the power comes back on, another surge | | | | operated device. This fits in between the power |
| rages through causing further damage. Computer | | | | source and the computer. If the power cuts, there is |
| owners are turning to data protection devices to try | | | | enough battery power to give you about five to ten |
| and control the amount of electricity that is | | | | minutes, which is more then enough time for you to |
| conducted. The device does this by clamping down | | | | save what you were doing. |
| on the amount of voltage shot through, similar to the | | | | In the worst-case scenario, you will need to take |
| workings of a valve system. | | | | your hard drive to a data recovery specialist, who will |
| The slight catch with these devices is that if the | | | | be able to find the lost data. It is recommended as |
| surge exceeds the limit, either the device itself won't | | | | soon as you realise there is damage that you don't |
| be able to handle it, or the voltage will still go through. | | | | attempt to recover it yourself, as you might make |
| Businesses that manufacture these devices are now | | | | the situation worse. |
| putting on lights so that individuals can see if the | | | | Also, unplugging all computers, printers, monitors and |
| device is working or not. | | | | everything else after a power cut is also a step in |
| The biggest problem with power surges and | | | | the right direction. When the power comes back on, |
| computers is the information that gets lost in the | | | | you at least are able to eliminate one surge from |
| process. The surge causes the computer to crash or | | | | damaging your system. |
| die completely, causing the system to lose a lot of | | | | Celeste writes for Data Detect, who specialise in |
| data. Although more systems are now making it | | | | Data Recovery in South Africa. |
| standard to add protection against power surges, it's | | | | |