It’s that time of year again in South Africa, where electricity becomes a gamble. It was this time last year when Cape Town was covered in darkness, at different times, in different stages. This year, hopefully it will not happen, but already in the rural areas it has started.

With continuous power surges, business and individuals are losing money and it’s not only the ones that are directly at harm, such as the shops with fridges risk losing produce. Power surges are also causing problems with all companies and individuals that rely on computers. The surge before the electricity blacks out damages the PC, causing the life span of a hard drive to drop.

When the power comes back on, another surge rages through causing further damage. Computer owners are turning to data protection devices to try and control the amount of electricity that is conducted. The device does this by clamping down on the amount of voltage shot through, similar to the workings of a valve system.

The slight catch with these devices is that if the surge exceeds the limit, either the device itself won’t be able to handle it, or the voltage will still go through. Businesses that manufacture these devices are now putting on lights so that individuals can see if the device is working or not.

The biggest problem with power surges and computers is the information that gets lost in the process. The surge causes the computer to crash or die completely, causing the system to lose a lot of data. Although more systems are now making it standard to add protection against power surges, it’s still a good idea to create backups.

Prevention is usually better then a cure and back-ups are recommended as the best solution. However, with the unpredictability of black outs, generally you can only do this to a certain extent. There will be times when you are right in the middle of something and the electricity will be cut. There are programs that can help with this. They collect the data that hasn’t been saved in a cache and keep it until it has been saved.

By doing this, if a power cut happens, once the computer is running again, you can retrieve your data from the cache, without any permanent information being lost. The other option is to invest in a battery operated device. This fits in between the power source and the computer. If the power cuts, there is enough battery power to give you about five to ten minutes, which is more then enough time for you to save what you were doing.

In the worst-case scenario, you will need to take your hard drive to a data recovery specialist, who will be able to find the lost data. It is recommended as soon as you realise there is damage that you don’t attempt to recover it yourself, as you might make the situation worse.

Also, unplugging all computers, printers, monitors and everything else after a power cut is also a step in the right direction. When the power comes back on, you at least are able to eliminate one surge from damaging your system.