Power cuts

Can a power cut harm a PC if its just idle?

Had one last night when i wasnt on the PC but the PC was on. I know if its writing stuff to disk then it can corrupt files, but can it do more permanent damage? Seems unless you buy a UPS not much else you can do to protect yourself

Edited by bobble_bob (Sat 20-Dec-14 09:23:12)

assuming disk is NTFS (default for XP onwards and is a Journaling file system), it isn't doing OS updates then you'll be very unlikely to have an issue with the operating system.

When the power comes back on and especially if it is erratic then hardware may fail if it is on way out - but you'd be unlucky and it would likely fail soon anyway.

I have switched running PCs off many a time - either by mistake or because it won't finish hibernating/shutting down (really must workout which app/driver kills it) and not had an issue on restart.

My Dad has a tendency to switch off the computer (at the power switch) before Windows itself has finished shutting down, and I do find a lot of programs (apps in particular), and the file allocation table does get corrupted - it got so bad a few months ago that Windows had to be re-installed.

In reply to a post by MrTAToad2:

My Dad has a tendency to switch off the computer (at the power switch) before Windows itself has finished shutting down, and I do find a lot of programs (apps in particular), and the file allocation table does get corrupted - it got so bad a few months ago that Windows had to be re-installed.

What version of Windows is it? It'd have to be pretty ancient to be installing itself onto a FAT file system. Every version of Windows from 2000 on formats the disk to NTFS. NTFS doesn't have a file allocation table and as another poster pointed out it's also a journalling file system so is very resilient to damage. Any partially complete transactions will be automatically rolled back on next boot up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Journaling

Edited by Andrue (Sat 20-Dec-14 19:21:43)

Basically what Kenneth says. During a powercut there is more likely to be damage to the hardware than "damage" to the software. The OS can usually tolerate abrupt loss of power. There is more risk of a power surge (when the power goes off, or back on, or both) damaging some of the hardware.

This is still a very low risk though.

Edited by Pipexer (Sat 20-Dec-14 19:35:31)

I presume he meant to say the filesystem on the general rather than the file allocation table. Assuming does mean NTFS like you I do find that rather peculiar to hear that the OS needed to be reinstalled. As for applications, regardless of whether it is a journalling filesystem or not if they have been written in some clumsy manner they can still get corrupted quite easily.

Its Windows 8.1 with, of course, NTFS. I do of course mean, the master file table.

Edited by deleted (Sat 20-Dec-14 23:45:51)

that reminds me, I must get a UPS at some point, will have to wait now until I get back to work and earning some money.