How A Battery Backup Can Save Your Hard Drive Data

A device known as the battery backup can be useful in protecting your hard drive from data corruption or data loss. Since a hard drive is designed to preserve your data after the power has been turned off, it may not be apparent exactly how a power outage can result in lost hard drive data. The connection is that the data corruption happens when the disk write and the power loss occur simultaneously.

Data corruption can be particularly vexing when it goes undetected. You think that your document has been saved to the disk but some of the words may have been changed due to the power surge that happened while the document was being written to the disk. A computer battery backup would have prevented the corruption because of its ability to filter out dirty electrical power and to keep on running even in the face of a total power outage.

Another scenario to consider is what might happen if a power related corruption affects important system files. Supposing the corruption affects the Master File Table (MFT), you might lose whole directories of files. If the corruption affects your boot sector or its related drivers then your computer will be unbootable. These types of disasters might seem rare, but why take the chance when the solution is so simple?

A computer surge protector is similar to the computer battery backup, except that it does not have a battery. The surge protector will protect the computer hardware from power spikes but the battery backup will keep your computer up and running. The surge protector works well for dirty power or power fluctuations but the battery backup will keep the computer running and the hard drive spinning even during a complete power failure. The battery backup provides surge protection but a surge protector will not keep your computer running when the power goes off.

Lightning storms are a common source of power surges and total power outages. It is wise to turn off your computer when you hear an approaching thunder storm, but it's not uncommon to have lightning generated power surges before you hear even the first crack of thunder. If you live in an area with frequent thunder storms, it makes sense to have battery backup power.

Power fluctuations, or equipment failures are other events that could damage your hard drive data if they occur while your document is being saved. These events could happen anywhere or at anytime. Even a minor drop in line voltage, causing the lights to flicker, will most likely force your computer to shutdown. Surge protectors can help when the voltage spikes high, but they are no help when the voltage drops; only a battery backup can maintain the voltage in this situation.

By now it should be clear that a computer surge protector might not protect your data if you lose power while a big document is being written to the hard drive. Your hard drive data is much safer with a battery backup because your computer will be able finish the file write during a power loss. Use a surge protector for your other electronic equipment but commit your important data to a reliable battery backup.

The APC battery backup is a common and reliable battery backup. You can find them almost everywhere and they've been protecting my computers for over a decade. The latest units come with two types of power outlets: battery backup outlets and surge protector outlets. The battery backup outlets will continue to provide power when your wall socket goes dead, but the surge protector outlets will cease to provide electricity when the power goes off. As a result of reading this page, I hope that you will not plug your external hard drive into the surge protector outlet of the APC battery backup unit.

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