Thinking of getting one now after having a couple of powercuts the most recent was yesterday when a waterpipe burst and the workers had to turn the leccy off albeit for maybe an hour max but still had to leg it up to PC to switch off before it was too late.
So anybody got experience of such devices?
What do I need to look for?
Both David and I use UPS devices for the very same reason, power cuts, something that may become more prevalent in the next few years when all the power workers start striking over government cuts, although the fear of strikes was not our reason for using them. The first one I ever had was given to me, and it saved my data on several occasions, and I now consider it an important piece of equipment.
Both models we have are made by APC by Schneider Electric, who are one of the most prolific UPS manufacturers. There are others by people such as Belkin, but they do seem to be a bit cheap and cheerful. You need to make sure the model you get will give you enough time to save all of your data before shutting down your PC, and depending on your PSU and whatever peripherals you have attached to your PC, such numbers of HDD, DVD Roms, Monitors. You don't get very long even with some of the bigger models, maybe about 12 minutes average, and to get any longer you'd have to pay big money.
The model we have are Back Up RS 800, which gives my PC (a quad core which has a lot of extra peripherals) just over 7 minutes of power after a power cut. Just enough to shut every thing down safely. It acts as a surge and lightning protector, and also protects the power to my handheld home phones.
