> > From: > Doug Franklin > John Sessoms wrote: >>> > The folks I know who do drive repairs tell me that the number one >>> >> cause of hard drive failure are poor power supplies, not heat. >>> >> > Hmmmm? Could be. This computer is on its third power supply and still >> > has the original hard drive. >> > > Not just the power supply, but also the mains power going into the > supply. Since personal computers have become commodity items, the low > cost power supplies in them typically aren't designed with enough > chutzpah to deal with dirty input power, or to clean it up sufficiently > to satisfy the (sensitive) digital chickens it's keeping fed. This is > one of the benefits of (some) UPS systems: they clean up the mains power > before the power supply in the computer has to deal with it. Yep. Got a couple of surplus UPS from the telephone company that used to run PBX systems. AC ->DC charging the batteries, then separate DC -> AC inverter (sine wave) for the power output. Well filtered. Replacement batteries are a little on the pricey side, but worth it, and it's only every 5 years or so.
They're actually over-kill for the application, but along with some really good surge protectors protecting them, they provide peace of mind. The local power company has gone to some kind of digital metering system and has a data pulse impressed on the AC cycle. I've had problems with a couple of cheapo fluorescent fixtures where you could actually see the lights pulse off every 20 seconds. You could actually see it on a digital voltmeter as well, but not on the power output side from the UPS. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
