power supply effects on Hard Drive?

Michael Brooks <mrb21065.DeleteThis@ggx.net> wrote

> I'm considering getting an external enclosure to use an internal drive
> externally, or maybe even just an IDE to USB cable + power adapter.

> I'm wondering about the effect on the drive's longevity
> of plugging the thing directly into a surge protector.

> At home, I have a good UPS which I think conditions the power. But
> I may be traveling overseas for an extended period and would prefer
> not to carry a 10 or 20 pound voltage stabilizer...but maybe I should?

No real need, no worth the weight basically.

I wouldnt bother even in the worst of the third world personally,
the most I might do it take a spare power adapter.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

The UPS does no such power conditioning. The typically
plug-in UPS connects appliance directly to AC mains when not
in battery backup mode. 'Directly' as in no power
conditioning. A power strip protector does even less.

Any 'power conditioning' must be performed by the power
supply. If buying power supplies on price rather than first
reviewing a long list of specification, then that power
supply's 'power conditioning' is, at best, questionable. You
want 'power conditioning'? Then spend but a little bit more
to get a supply that actually does proper power conditioning.

Michael Brooks wrote:
> I'm considering getting an external enclosure to use an internal drive
> externally, or maybe even just an IDE to USB cable + power adapter.
>
> I'm wondering about the effect on the drive's longevity of plugging the
> thing directly into a surge protector.
>
> At home, I have a good UPS which I think conditions the power. But I may be
> traveling overseas for an extended period and would prefer not to carry a 10
> or 20 pound voltage stabilizer...but maybe I should?
>
> thanks for any insights
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

Michael Brooks wrote:

> I'm considering getting an external enclosure to use an internal drive
> externally, or maybe even just an IDE to USB cable + power adapter.
>
>
>
> I'm wondering about the effect on the drive's longevity of plugging the
> thing directly into a surge protector.
>
>
>
> At home, I have a good UPS which I think conditions the power. But I may be
> traveling overseas for an extended period and would prefer not to carry a 10
> or 20 pound voltage stabilizer...but maybe I should?
>
> thanks for any insights
>
>
If it were me, I'd probably go with a flash drive instead, or a stack of
DVDs. There's hardware almost everywhere of interest now, so I'd rather
not carry much that's potentially delicate.

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 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

w_tom wrote:

> The UPS does no such power conditioning. The typically
> plug-in UPS connects appliance directly to AC mains when not
> in battery backup mode. 'Directly' as in no power
> conditioning. A power strip protector does even less.
>
> Any 'power conditioning' must be performed by the power
> supply. If buying power supplies on price rather than first
> reviewing a long list of specification, then that power
> supply's 'power conditioning' is, at best, questionable. You
> want 'power conditioning'? Then spend but a little bit more
> to get a supply that actually does proper power conditioning.

There are UPSs that run continuously, and thus have the effect
of conditioning the power. I assume that's why you qualified
your statement with the word "typical," but a casual reader
might miss the nuance. As one might expect, the continuous ones
are more expensive than the cheapies. There are also some power
strips that give reasonable "better than nothing first line of
defense" protection against bad power. But the marketing that
suggests they'll withstand a direct lightning hit is to be taken
with a grain of salt.

>
> Michael Brooks wrote:
>
>>I'm considering getting an external enclosure to use an internal drive
>>externally, or maybe even just an IDE to USB cable + power adapter.
>>
>>I'm wondering about the effect on the drive's longevity of plugging the
>>thing directly into a surge protector.
>>
>>At home, I have a good UPS which I think conditions the power. But I may be
>>traveling overseas for an extended period and would prefer not to carry a 10
>>or 20 pound voltage stabilizer...but maybe I should?
>>
>>thanks for any insights


--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che....RemoveThis@prodigy.net.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

The typical plug-in UPS does not cost $500. Computer grade
UPSes connect appliance directly to AC mains when not in
battery backup mode. Where is the power conditioning? Does a
relay 'clean' electricity? Of course not.

Without the 'less than 10 foot' connection to earth ground,
then power strip also provides no effective protection.
Worse, a power strip protector located adjacent to the
computer can provide a transient with more destructive paths
through computer. Yes, the adjacent power strip may even
contribute to damage of a powered off computer.

High reliability facilities (ie telephone switching
computer) use protectors distant from the electronics AND near
zero feet from earth ground. That same protection is also
called 'whole house' protection.

Effective transient protection also costs less money. Any
protection at the appliance must already be inside a power
supply. Protection that can be overwhelmed if the building
does not have properly earthed 'whole house' protectors.
Effective protectors have responsible names such as Square D,
Cutler Hammer, Polyphaser, Leviton, Intermatic, GE, and
Siemens. Specifically not on that list is APC, Belkin,
Powermax, and Tripplite - whose products are recommend without
electrical facts. Effective 'whole house' protectors are sold
in Home Depot, Lowes, and electrical supply houses.
Ineffective protectors are sold at excessive cost in Sears,
Kmart, Staples, Circuit City, and Radio Shack.

How to protect that disk drive? A power supply must contain
functions that were standard even 30 years ago. And properly
installed 'whole house' protector where utility wires enter
the building so that protection inside that power supply is
not overwhelmed.

One final point - this UPS is called computer grade. When
in battery backup, its 120V 'sine wave' is two 200 volt square
waves with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square
waves. Yes, that UPS is outputting a sine wave ... and more.
Why is that voltage not destructive to computers? Why is that
a computer grade UPS? Because protection already inside a
computer's power supply makes 200 and 270 volts irrelevant.
Protection for that disk drive means a power supply that
claims to have essential functions - in writing. Functions
often missing in 'dumped' and discounted power supplies.

CJT wrote:
> There are UPSs that run continuously, and thus have the effect
> of conditioning the power. I assume that's why you qualified
> your statement with the word "typical," but a casual reader
> might miss the nuance. As one might expect, the continuous ones
> are more expensive than the cheapies. There are also some power
> strips that give reasonable "better than nothing first line of
> defense" protection against bad power. But the marketing that
> suggests they'll withstand a direct lightning hit is to be taken
> with a grain of salt.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

w_tom wrote:

> The typical plug-in UPS does not cost $500. Computer grade
> UPSes connect appliance directly to AC mains when not in
> battery backup mode.

I suppose that depends on what you consider "computer grade."

Where is the power conditioning? Does a
> relay 'clean' electricity? Of course not.
>
> Without the 'less than 10 foot'

Heaven help you if you're on the 29th floor, I guess.

connection to earth ground,
> then power strip also provides no effective protection.
> Worse, a power strip protector located adjacent to the
> computer can provide a transient with more destructive paths
> through computer. Yes, the adjacent power strip may even
> contribute to damage of a powered off computer.
>
> High reliability facilities (ie telephone switching
> computer) use protectors distant from the electronics AND near
> zero feet from earth ground.

There's no such thing as "near zero feet from earth ground,"
because "earth ground" isn't a single point.

That same protection is also
> called 'whole house' protection.
>
> Effective transient protection also costs less money. Any
> protection at the appliance must already be inside a power
> supply. Protection that can be overwhelmed if the building
> does not have properly earthed 'whole house' protectors.
> Effective protectors have responsible names such as Square D,
> Cutler Hammer, Polyphaser, Leviton, Intermatic, GE, and
> Siemens. Specifically not on that list is APC, Belkin,
> Powermax, and Tripplite - whose products are recommend without
> electrical facts. Effective 'whole house' protectors are sold
> in Home Depot, Lowes, and electrical supply houses.
> Ineffective protectors are sold at excessive cost in Sears,
> Kmart, Staples, Circuit City, and Radio Shack.
>
> How to protect that disk drive? A power supply must contain
> functions that were standard even 30 years ago. And properly
> installed 'whole house' protector where utility wires enter
> the building so that protection inside that power supply is
> not overwhelmed.
>
> One final point - this UPS is called computer grade. When
> in battery backup, its 120V 'sine wave' is two 200 volt square
> waves with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square
> waves. Yes, that UPS is outputting a sine wave ... and more.
> Why is that voltage not destructive to computers? Why is that
> a computer grade UPS? Because protection already inside a
> computer's power supply makes 200 and 270 volts irrelevant.
> Protection for that disk drive means a power supply that
> claims to have essential functions - in writing. Functions
> often missing in 'dumped' and discounted power supplies.

I think you're getting overly worked up.
>
> CJT wrote:
>
>>There are UPSs that run continuously, and thus have the effect
>>of conditioning the power. I assume that's why you qualified
>>your statement with the word "typical," but a casual reader
>>might miss the nuance. As one might expect, the continuous ones
>>are more expensive than the cheapies. There are also some power
>>strips that give reasonable "better than nothing first line of
>>defense" protection against bad power. But the marketing that
>>suggests they'll withstand a direct lightning hit is to be taken
>>with a grain of salt.


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 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

w_tom <w_tom1.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in news:4391EA2C.55DC6835
@hotmail.com:

> power conditioning

What is the definition of that term?
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

Top posted for effect....

All the talk on power strips is not really related. Too bad it was brought
up. IRC requires a copper clad grounding rod have 25 ohms or less
resistance. If in excess, two are required. So if there's a short
somewhere, the majority of the current will go through the device, not earth
ground. Such was meant to to somewhat protect people from electrocution
type death, not equipment. Be patient, no response yet, read on.

Typically, from an outlet, following the hot/neutral/ground cable, goes to a
subpanel box in the home. Further goes to primary panel outside where the
ground bus and neutral are tied together in some fashion. A copper wire
from the grounding side bus connects to a copper clad pipe inserted in the
ground, and possibly metal piping in addition. Some locales are allowing
grounding to a cable in a concrete slab. This in effect describes to some
degree the length of wire from an AC outlet to its actual grounding point.
Waaaaaaaaaayyy more than ten feet in any situation.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

--
Jonny
"w_tom" <w_tom1.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:439226D2.53C07CB4@hotmail.com...
> The typical plug-in UPS does not cost $500. Computer grade
> UPSes connect appliance directly to AC mains when not in
> battery backup mode. Where is the power conditioning? Does a
> relay 'clean' electricity? Of course not.
>
> Without the 'less than 10 foot' connection to earth ground,
> then power strip also provides no effective protection.
> Worse, a power strip protector located adjacent to the
> computer can provide a transient with more destructive paths
> through computer. Yes, the adjacent power strip may even
> contribute to damage of a powered off computer.
>
> High reliability facilities (ie telephone switching
> computer) use protectors distant from the electronics AND near
> zero feet from earth ground. That same protection is also
> called 'whole house' protection.
>
> Effective transient protection also costs less money. Any
> protection at the appliance must already be inside a power
> supply. Protection that can be overwhelmed if the building
> does not have properly earthed 'whole house' protectors.
> Effective protectors have responsible names such as Square D,
> Cutler Hammer, Polyphaser, Leviton, Intermatic, GE, and
> Siemens. Specifically not on that list is APC, Belkin,
> Powermax, and Tripplite - whose products are recommend without
> electrical facts. Effective 'whole house' protectors are sold
> in Home Depot, Lowes, and electrical supply houses.
> Ineffective protectors are sold at excessive cost in Sears,
> Kmart, Staples, Circuit City, and Radio Shack.
>
> How to protect that disk drive? A power supply must contain
> functions that were standard even 30 years ago. And properly
> installed 'whole house' protector where utility wires enter
> the building so that protection inside that power supply is
> not overwhelmed.
>
> One final point - this UPS is called computer grade. When
> in battery backup, its 120V 'sine wave' is two 200 volt square
> waves with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square
> waves. Yes, that UPS is outputting a sine wave ... and more.
> Why is that voltage not destructive to computers? Why is that
> a computer grade UPS? Because protection already inside a
> computer's power supply makes 200 and 270 volts irrelevant.
> Protection for that disk drive means a power supply that
> claims to have essential functions - in writing. Functions
> often missing in 'dumped' and discounted power supplies.
>
> CJT wrote:
> > There are UPSs that run continuously, and thus have the effect
> > of conditioning the power. I assume that's why you qualified
> > your statement with the word "typical," but a casual reader
> > might miss the nuance. As one might expect, the continuous ones
> > are more expensive than the cheapies. There are also some power
> > strips that give reasonable "better than nothing first line of
> > defense" protection against bad power. But the marketing that
> > suggests they'll withstand a direct lightning hit is to be taken
> > with a grain of salt.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

"Rod Speed" <rod_speed RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message news:3ve586F15b2ngU1@individual.net
> Michael Brooks <mrb21065 RemoveThis @ggx.net> wrote
>
> > I'm considering getting an external enclosure to use an internal drive
> > externally, or maybe even just an IDE to USB cable + power adapter.
>
> > I'm wondering about the effect on the drive's longevity
> > of plugging the thing directly into a surge protector.
>
> > At home, I have a good UPS which I think conditions the power. But
> > I may be traveling overseas for an extended period and would prefer
> > not to carry a 10 or 20 pound voltage stabilizer...but maybe I should?
>
> No real need, no worth the weight basically.
>
> I wouldnt bother even in the worst of the third world personally,

Isn't that where he's coming from?

> the most I might do it take a spare power adapter.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

"CJT" <abujlehc DeleteThis @prodigy.net> wrote in message news:43922B8F.1070301@prodigy.net
> w_tom wrote:
>
> > The typical plug-in UPS does not cost $500. Computer grade
> > UPSes connect appliance directly to AC mains when not in
> > battery backup mode.
>
> I suppose that depends on what you consider "computer grade."
>
> > Where is the power conditioning? Does a
> > relay 'clean' electricity? Of course not.
> >
> > Without the 'less than 10 foot'
>
> Heaven help you if you're on the 29th floor, I guess.
>
> > connection to earth ground,
> > then power strip also provides no effective protection.
> > Worse, a power strip protector located adjacent to the
> > computer can provide a transient with more destructive paths
> > through computer. Yes, the adjacent power strip may even
> > contribute to damage of a powered off computer.
> >
> > High reliability facilities (ie telephone switching
> > computer) use protectors distant from the electronics AND near
> > zero feet from earth ground.
>
> There's no such thing as "near zero feet from earth ground,"
> because "earth ground" isn't a single point.
>
> > That same protection is also called 'whole house' protection.
> >
> > Effective transient protection also costs less money. Any
> > protection at the appliance must already be inside a power
> > supply. Protection that can be overwhelmed if the building
> > does not have properly earthed 'whole house' protectors.
> > Effective protectors have responsible names such as Square D,
> > Cutler Hammer, Polyphaser, Leviton, Intermatic, GE, and
> > Siemens. Specifically not on that list is APC, Belkin,
> > Powermax, and Tripplite - whose products are recommend without
> > electrical facts. Effective 'whole house' protectors are sold
> > in Home Depot, Lowes, and electrical supply houses.
> > Ineffective protectors are sold at excessive cost in Sears,
> > Kmart, Staples, Circuit City, and Radio Shack.
> >
> > How to protect that disk drive? A power supply must contain
> > functions that were standard even 30 years ago. And properly
> > installed 'whole house' protector where utility wires enter
> > the building so that protection inside that power supply is
> > not overwhelmed.
> >
> > One final point - this UPS is called computer grade. When
> > in battery backup, its 120V 'sine wave' is two 200 volt square
> > waves with a spike of up to 270 volts between those square
> > waves. Yes, that UPS is outputting a sine wave ... and more.
> > Why is that voltage not destructive to computers? Why is that
> > a computer grade UPS? Because protection already inside a
> > computer's power supply makes 200 and 270 volts irrelevant.
> > Protection for that disk drive means a power supply that
> > claims to have essential functions - in writing. Functions
> > often missing in 'dumped' and discounted power supplies.
>
> I think you're getting overly worked up.

I think you are overly nice.

Oh, and given your bad quoting, you might be a bit worked up yourself.

> >
> > CJT wrote:
> >
> > > There are UPSs that run continuously, and thus have the effect
> > > of conditioning the power. I assume that's why you qualified
> > > your statement with the word "typical," but a casual reader
> > > might miss the nuance. As one might expect, the continuous ones
> > > are more expensive than the cheapies. There are also some power
> > > strips that give reasonable "better than nothing first line of
> > > defense" protection against bad power. But the marketing that
> > > suggests they'll withstand a direct lightning hit is to be taken
> > > with a grain of salt.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive? 

Jim wrote:

>Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

No.
 >> Stay informed about: power supply effects on Hard Drive?