Losing power while computer is on

KeeperFiM · Sep 21, 2013

I know it's bad for the computer and I would never do it on purpose, but it has happened a couple times in the past week due to various reasons and I was wondering what the implications were. Computer seems to work fine.
Specifically:
-Does it add wear and tear to the components?
-Does said wear cause system performance penalties?
-Do I need to clear disk and registry errors caused by this, and if so, how?

nukemaster · Sep 21, 2013

In a best case, nothing bad happens in a worse case open file can be lost because they had not been saved to the hard drive.

Flashing firmware and having a power out on the other hand can be quite bad. in worst cases making the system or part being flashed no longer function.

Windows(Vista and newer, even older ones did not fail from power outs) copes with Power loss quite well(as do all modern OS's).

You can run a quick drive scan to ensure no corrupt files are kicking around, but actual system wear is not likely.

In a pure technical term, hardware can get hot after this kind of power down if it was working hard(A video card playing games will heat up since the fan no longer spins,but it still has some heat to remove from the core.).

I have never had issues with power loss other than the inconvenience of having to restart and potential loss of unsaved document changes.

If you are worried about power outs or lived in an area with bad power getting a UPS is highly recommended as it prevents power outs from causing an unexpected loss of data. You may also turn off read/write caching on drives so data does not get passed and held in ram or the drives buffer, but this should only be done as a last resort as it has a performance penalty.

In general, an occasional power out will not harm the system.

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Losing power while computer is on

KeeperFiM

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