Update – My PC trouble gets worse Motherboard on the fritz?

It is interesting, yet frustrating. First I have two hard drives dead/crash. I figured out how to recover the data from them when they are no longer readable, but it is expensive ($350-800/drive). Now if that was not bad enough, I also began having trouble with either my either net card, or a cable or….something. I was online and then all of a sudden the internet connection was lost. So I rebooted and it was back, but just for a short time. So I rebooted again and again it was back and then went. I repeated this four times before shutting down entirely.

I managed to find a way to recover my files without having to send my hard drive away, SpotMau PowerSuite. SpotMau PowerSuite, is amazing! It found my data and now helps to keep it backed up and also helps to optimize my PC (so it doesn't go slow or freeze). To do this though, I used another hard drive as the master and slaved my dead drive. Then I was able to use the stable hard drive to run windows and the software to access the dead drive. I tried so many other things, but this is the only way I could find to recover my stuff.

I am pretty sure what started the whole problem was a power surge.  Also possible is a problem with my PC power supply or maybe even the CPU battery. I conducted some research into power surges and surge protection/suppression. I found a great site that help shed light on this topic. howstuffworks.com has a good in depth description of power surges/fluctuation, what causes them and how to protect your components from them with a good Surge Suppression unit.

The most common cause of power surges and fluctuation is the switching on and off of high consuming components hooked up to the house circuit. Kind of like the water in the shower and a flushing toilet. These power fluctuations are actually normal in your standard home, especially when it is older, as mine is. I have had some people doing repairs/renos around my home and they were using high powered radial arm saw. This machine turning on and off causes the entire house circuit to fluctuate putting all the households sensitive electronics at risk. The main reason that most people have not had trouble with this in the past is that most electronics were able to handle power fluctuations. Many of todays electronics, especially your home PC and entertainment system, are very sensitive. They are so much more complex with more circuitry and little parts that just can't handle large power fluctuations.

So what do you do to keep your PC and Data and that fancy new entertainment system from being damaged from 'regular' electricity fluctuations? I have done some research on this too. I thought that I had a surge protector. I bought one in a local liquidation store and it looks pretty tuff. Turns out, one surge suppressor is not the same as the next. In fact there is a huge difference between units, from next to no protection at all, to full battery back up, power suppression units.

How do you know which surge protector is the best and will protect you? Through my research, I learned that there is an organization that provides a testing and certification service to manufacturers of electrical products. So the first and most important thing to look for is a UL stamp on the device. UL stands for Underwriters Laboratories. Having the UL stamp means that the product has been tested by this organization. However, you have to ensure that UL has given the product "Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor" certification. This means it has met their minimum requirements for surge suppression.

A device that has the UL stamp and the "Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor" will also generally have various spec identified. The important specs to look for are;
Clamping Voltage – Lower is better. Don't get anything higher than 400V,
Energy absorption/dissipation – Higher is better. Minimum value acceptable is 2-400 joules,
Response Time – fast is best. Look for response time of less than a nano second.

OK so now I know how to protect by PC and other sensitive electronics. I like finding a good product for a bargain price. The best place to do that is by far eBay. I conducted a Search using the term "Transient Voltage Surge Suppressor" on eBay. I also search "surge Protector" and found a UL Certified protector for $50 plus shipping! You'll spend over $100 for the same unit at Future Shop or Circuit City.

Your thoughts and comments on surge protection and Data management and backup are always welcome.