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UPS Recommendations

Lost power during the recent rainstorms here in the East. No damage to the PC this time, but made me worried about my hard drive. Any suggestions on UPS’s? – RB

— Ron Brown

Comments: One Response to “UPS Recommendations”

    14 years ago

    My only real recommendation is yes, use a UPS :)
    I've been using them for years. But I don't have any specific recommendations.
    I've bought all sorts of different brands. Here is some general advice:
    1. Test it out as soon as you can. Let it charge up (a day or two) and then plug something in (a lamp?). Then pull the power. Does it work? For at least a few minutes? I've found that 1 in 4 doesn't work -- regardless of brand. Just a bad battery.
    2. Be prepared to replace it every year or every other year. See what the instructions recommend. That's why I prefer to buy medium-priced ones instead of super-featured ones.
    3. Plug in your computer to the UPS, but as few peripherals as you can. The most use you will get out of the UPS will be 2-second outages that would normally restart your Mac. But the UPS will keep them going. If you lose your monitor for 2 seconds it won't matter.
    4. If you do lose power, don't hesitate for a second. Save your work, shut down. You might think you have several minutes but you may only actually have seconds.
    (Note to self: This would make a good MacMost Now episode!)

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