Post by Wrasse on Nov 8, 2006 12:32:50 GMT -5
OK, many of you all will probably be well aware of these things and some of you may not care but I feel like I should share some fun little tid-bits of knowledge to ensure the safety and longevity of your computer system.
Ali (my wife) just recently had a power supply fail on her which resulted in damage to two of her hard drives...sounds fun, eh? You'd think a guy who has servers running 24/7 (some for many years with the same equipment) and lives in an area with frequent brown-outs due to growth would know better and have certain measures in place in order to ensure that his significant other's system kept running...but no, I'm lazy and stupid I guess. But you don't have to be!
(unless you enjoy it)
Things I recommend (if you don't already have 'em):
1.) A UPS (not the guys who deliver stuff to you) or uninterruptible power supply. This is key to maintaining the life of your PSU (or power supply) of your computer. It provides a clean and uninterrupted power source for your system. Fluctuations/interruptions in power to your PSU can cause damage. It's the heart of your system and, in turn, can really do a number on things (especially hard drives! bah!) inside your precious little gaming machine. I recommend APC or OptiUPS but only because those are the systems I've had in place for years and I really have come to rely on them. Recently had a little conversation with APC's technical support and they were helpful and very nice.
I recommend something like this:
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16842107113
or:
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16842107140
There are a lot of people out there who know a heck of a lot more than I do about UPS solutions (maybe some here) so feel free to chime in...I don't know enough to talk about sinewaves and the different types...I just know those two solutions above should be good for a standard ATX case.
2.) A back-up solution: Ok, there are way too many to list but this is one I recently purchased and I think it's cool (and it looks sweet too).
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136049
It's an external hard drive made by Western Digital. Again, many solutions here but I like this one and it was fast and easy to set up. I've been around computers for a while and I'm stunned that prices for external hard drives (well all hard drives) have gone down so much (we have an old Apple II+ external hard drive here at the office that I think holds a megabyte of information and is about as large as a micro ATX case
heh...but that's a long time ago). I like the little system power-down and the ease of storage (it's like a little book, ain't that swell?).
3.) RAID: What's RAID? ...well, without getting way too geeky, it's just 2+ hard drives linked together in a way that CAN help protect data. Again, with hard drives going down in price so much over the years and systems now having built-in RAID solutions, it's a great idea, IMHO, to consider this for your next system. I'd buy 2 medium-size, fast drives and use them for your main OS drive. Setting up a RAID array has become even easier as of late as well...but if anyone actually wants to do this, I'll do my best to help.
OK, there's more...and maybe some others have things to add. I just wanted to post this...maybe I can help just one person out there prevent a system crap-out...I'd feel better.
Ali (my wife) just recently had a power supply fail on her which resulted in damage to two of her hard drives...sounds fun, eh? You'd think a guy who has servers running 24/7 (some for many years with the same equipment) and lives in an area with frequent brown-outs due to growth would know better and have certain measures in place in order to ensure that his significant other's system kept running...but no, I'm lazy and stupid I guess. But you don't have to be!
(unless you enjoy it)Things I recommend (if you don't already have 'em):
1.) A UPS (not the guys who deliver stuff to you) or uninterruptible power supply. This is key to maintaining the life of your PSU (or power supply) of your computer. It provides a clean and uninterrupted power source for your system. Fluctuations/interruptions in power to your PSU can cause damage. It's the heart of your system and, in turn, can really do a number on things (especially hard drives! bah!) inside your precious little gaming machine. I recommend APC or OptiUPS but only because those are the systems I've had in place for years and I really have come to rely on them. Recently had a little conversation with APC's technical support and they were helpful and very nice.
I recommend something like this:
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16842107113
or:
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16842107140
There are a lot of people out there who know a heck of a lot more than I do about UPS solutions (maybe some here) so feel free to chime in...I don't know enough to talk about sinewaves and the different types...I just know those two solutions above should be good for a standard ATX case.
2.) A back-up solution: Ok, there are way too many to list but this is one I recently purchased and I think it's cool (and it looks sweet too).
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136049
It's an external hard drive made by Western Digital. Again, many solutions here but I like this one and it was fast and easy to set up. I've been around computers for a while and I'm stunned that prices for external hard drives (well all hard drives) have gone down so much (we have an old Apple II+ external hard drive here at the office that I think holds a megabyte of information and is about as large as a micro ATX case
heh...but that's a long time ago). I like the little system power-down and the ease of storage (it's like a little book, ain't that swell?).3.) RAID: What's RAID? ...well, without getting way too geeky, it's just 2+ hard drives linked together in a way that CAN help protect data. Again, with hard drives going down in price so much over the years and systems now having built-in RAID solutions, it's a great idea, IMHO, to consider this for your next system. I'd buy 2 medium-size, fast drives and use them for your main OS drive. Setting up a RAID array has become even easier as of late as well...but if anyone actually wants to do this, I'll do my best to help.
OK, there's more...and maybe some others have things to add. I just wanted to post this...maybe I can help just one person out there prevent a system crap-out...I'd feel better.
