Will sudden neighborhood power outages ruin my PC?

Digital doc beat me to it.
I second his opinion and recommend a good surge strip.

I'll type s-l-o-w-e-r-.....

NEVER put two surge protection devices in series. A UPS has built in surge protection.... using another in series can damage it.

The surge protection in most UPSes is relatively basic, mostly meant to protect the UPS' electronics themselves. Putting a surge protector between the wall outlet and the UPS won't hurt it - aside from the sub-1V RMS voltage drop from increased wiring losses, the UPS won't ever know it is there. Plugging a surge protector in the UPS' battery output on the other hand may cause the UPS' output to get clipped by the surge protector. This may ruin the surge protector and cause excessive power draw from the UPS. It depends on the UPS and surge protector circuit.

Next time that will help

Unexpected power loss caused disk data loss ... well over 20 years ago with DOS and Windows 3.1. Today's computers use file systems that do not do damage as others have assumed.

Power loss does not damage appliances. If it did, then you must disconnect the refrigerator, all clocks, smoke detectors, etc. Unexpected power loss is only a nuisance and a threat to unsaved data.

Laptops are not intended to be used always from batteries. Your batteries would be dead due to improper usage. Often due to discharging the battery too often and too deeply. Batteries in a laptop are only temporary power for the same reason a UPS is temporary power.

Its battery is easily replaced. Your problem is due to leaving a dead (and therefore potentially destructive) battery in that laptop. Fix the problem.

It should not damage the HDD itself unless something else fails first but it can certainly corrupt data or at least cause loss of data just like any other form of unplanned shutdown might.

This is similar to pulling out a USB drive before ejecting it first: if you disconnect it shortly after a write operation, you may interrupt a write operation and if that happens to be during a file system structure update, you may find out that the drive is unreadable or otherwise messed up the next time you try accessing it. You probably have experience with this yourself or know someone who does.

Personally, when power is acting up due to awful weather or power grid issues, I just put my computer in hibernation, turn off the UPS and power strip, then go do something else for a while.

Whatever it takes!

The last time I wanted to use my computer during Hurricane Sandy, I used my old notebook on a surge strip. I figured when I lost the power, if it crashed the computer it was ok as I did not use that one anymore except for situations like this.

Depends on what you call a UPS... if you're talking about the cheap stuff sold at Walmart for ~ $100, then yes I would trust anything that came at the price.... if you talking about a 1500 watts Cyberpower pure sine wave unit I can absolutely assure you that the level of surge protection far exceeds any surge protector thing you are going to find in your neighborhood hardware store or best Buy.

Just covered this topic about 6 weeks ago with half dozen references so not going to collect it again but suffice to say when the manufacturer of your UPS warns you not to use any surge protection device in series, you best follow their instructions.

I ran an electric utility for 6 years and I can tell you after each outage we received dozens of claims for damaged appliance and PC's / peripherals. And like every other utility, we (or our insurance company) paid most of them. The damage is caused by the typical surge which immediately precedes the power loss, or the on-off-on-off sequence that occurs as a power line goes down. Also, when you only experience the loss of one leg of your service, this can take out a lot. I lost a refrigerator/ freezer and a separate freezer in one storm from a dropped leg and my father lost a bunch of stuff in one a few years later. And the reason they tell you to turn things off during a power outage because when the power comes back on and everything wants to turn on in the same instant, there is a HUGE voltage drop which causes a current surge which can also take things down.

Everything you want to know about laptop batteries can be found here... including busting several myths like "never completely discharge you battery". You do not want to do it often but it is necessary for calibration; without proper calibration, your charging circuit can apply excessive voltage and damage the battery.

DOS / Windows 3 are not the only susceptible file systems. Newer OSs can be vulnerable as the protection that is in modern OS's comes from the NTFS file system and still some folks still use it on smaller drives. While this protection is very good, it is not foolproof as you are reminded every time you do Windows Update. Your NTFS file that you opened is protected if you get caught in a cut / paste or move as it doesn't erase the old file until the new write completes but open a file, work on it and if you haven't saved, you will still have the old file but lose new work (since last timed save of applicable).

Over the years, managing puters on multiple sites, it's rare to lose things but it does happen. I lost a 4 disk NAS in Sandy as well as a $12k network printer / copier. I have had to reset CMOS, restore files from backups and other odds and ends but if it happens say 1 in 20 times, I'd say that is probably high.

Thanks for the info.

For the record, my computer did shut down when the power went off during Sandy, but there was no damage. It was also long disconnected by the time the power went back on... 5 long days later.

Posted as if damage was from a blackout is really damage from other anomalies. For example, some blackouts may be preceed by a potentially destructive transient. That transient did damage BEFORE power was lost. But many use only observation and speculation to blame power restoration.

Yes, some filesystems long after DOS were still easily corrupted. Because some were still using 20 year obsolete filesystems such as FAT32 - long after current technology filesystems made power loss not destructive to disk files. Power loss does not damage a hard drive or its data.

Sudden blackouts are destructive to unsaved data. Purpose of a UPS - to protect unsaved data. Hardware is not harmed by blackouts and many other anomalies.

View specification numbers for a UPS. It claims to absorb less joules than power strip protectors. That sinewave UPS claims less protection that a $10 power strip protector from Walmart. And still, many recommend that UPS for protection by ignoring basic facts such as its near zero (hundreds) joules number.

Useful replies also say why ... with numbers. Blackouts are not destructive to computers. In fact, the most common reason for computer failure is manufacturing defects - even when a computer has worked fine for years.

Semantics.....kind alike saying falling off a building didn't kill the guy, impact with the ground did.....or the heat attack didn't kill hi, the lack of blood to the brain did.

A blackout can occur in several ways. For example:

1. Utility can cut power to a segment of the grid. This will not cause damage.

2. A branch can fall on the utility wires causing a short .... by the time this short is registered at the plant and power is cut, the damage is already done.

Both the NAS and the network printer were on power strips... they are both dead. None of the machines on UPS were damaged. At the utility we never had a claim for a system on a UPS..... most of the puter claims were on power strips. If they weren't on power strips, the claim would be denied.

To be fair, the relay inside the UPS that does the transfer to battery power takes a few milliseconds to break contact and actually transfer the load to battery power. In the case of a surge from high voltage local transport to low voltage local distribution, the UPS' relay would still be far too slow to protect anything.

Out of the dozen or so PSUs I have owned since my first PC, two of them had catastrophic failures when power got restored. I do not know the circumstances for the first one but on the second one, my bedroom light was flickering like mad for a few seconds when power got restored and then I heard the PSU pop with a small light show. The drain lead on the main FET got vaporized. My best guess is that the exceptionally irregular power caused something to malfunction and that the dirty recovery may have been caused by linesmen having trouble closing some manual line fuses. Or it could have been a faulty recloser.

I do not remember if these two PSUs were on a UPS when they blew up. Probably not since the UPS would have either been off or remained on battery power until power stabilized after it returned.

Protection in a UPS is often inferior to what is in a power strip. Manufacturer specifications and numbers from InvalidError demonstrate same.

Knowledge only from observation is classic junk science. Always include fundamental and proven knowledge - the science. A surge (ie lightning strike far down the street) is a surge incoming to every appliance. Is every appliance damaged? Of course not. An outgoing path to earth must also exist to have damage. A surge hunts for and finds the appliances that make a best connection to earth. Those damaged appliances then act as surge protectors for all other appliances. That science explains why some appliances are damages; others are not.

That hunt blows through anything that might stop it - including UPS or power strip protectors. Meanwhile, a UPS typically leaves the appliance directly connected to AC mains when not in battery backup mode. Where is the protection? Only speculation from observation (without first learning how surges do damage) made that claim.

Some mistakenly claim a UPS battery will absorb a surge. Again, a conclusion without first learning fundamental concepts. To a surge, that battery is simply an electrical conductor (superposition). It gives a surge even more destructive paths into attached electronics. Where is the protection? Just another reason why UPS spec numbers do not claim superior protection.

Protection at an appliance is already done better inside the appliance. Effective protection means a surge must not enter the building - does not go hunting for earth destrutively via appliances. Protection is always defined by one simple question: Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate? Outside the building and away from appliances.

Damage from power cycling is averted by another function. A safety lockout circuit powers off the PSU. This lockout is released by removing the power cord from AC mains. Some computers do not have this hardware safety feature. And some power supplies, sold on more watts, may also be more succeptible. So a UPS, outputting 'dirty' power, would have averted this damage. Power cycling does not create surges. Different anomaly.

Alltec highly recommends that you plug a UPS into a good surge protector. I strongly recommend the Tripp Lite Isobar surge protector.
Read Alltec Article here: http://alltecglobal.com/articles/importance-spd-protecting-uninterruptible-power-supply-ups/

So does Eaton Power, here: https://switchon.eaton.com/plug/article/176/ups-vs.-surge-suppressor

Interestingly, APC does not recommend a surge protector. Here are their reasons which I don't find compelling. So long as you use properly grounded high quality surge protector before the UPS you will be fine. BTW, APC has less than 500 Joule protection in their UPS units! This is inadequate. See APC Opinion: http://www.apc.com/us/en/faqs/FA158852/