Backing Up The Big Boys

Author's Rating:

Pros: Battery Backup system

Cons: Nothing I have found yet

Author's Review

Living in the lightning capital of the United States (Florida) power outages cannot only be frequent but very annoying. Needless to say it is also very bad for your hard drive. While just about everyone who has computer equipment in there home has surge protectors, they don’t always think of a battery backup system that would allow them enough time to properly shut down there computer in the event of a power outage.

After doing a lot of research and price evaluating we decided to purchase the newest model available from APC. We purchased the APC Battery Backup 650va model from our local Best Buy store. We paid the full price of $199.00 but we felt our computer systems were well worth the money. We have 3 computers linked into a main server in our home. We have direct access to a cable modem, 2 printers, and a fax machine so we needed a backup that could support all the equipment we have.

What this backup system has:

1) 6 Power Outlets with room for transformer blocks. 3 are “always on” surge protectors that absorbs the spikes and line noise that can cause hardware damage. This allows you to plug in your printers, fax, scanners or any other valuable peripherals. The other 3 outlets are battery backup. This enables you to keep your computer and monitors running even though the power is out. Depending on how many things you have plugged in determine the length of time. The maximum time is 40 minutes and the minimum time is 20 minutes. 20 minutes is ample time to shut down your systems in the event of a power outage.

2) 3 Audible Alarms – On-Battery Alarm that comes on when connected equipment is running on the battery power. Audible Overload Indicator that let’s you know when an overloaded UPS may not provide adequate runtime for you. Audible Low Battery Alarm, which indicates that your battery is low and needs to be charged.

3) User-Adjustable Settings that allow you to change you’re operating voltage range and alarm settings.

4) UPS Diagnostic Test/Alarm Disable Button, which allows you to perform a diagnostic testing to ensure that all internal components including the battery are operating at peak levels.

5) Free software comes with this backup for File-Saving and Auto-Shutdown Software.

This backup is designed for Windows 95/98, Windows NT and Windows 2000. It is compact and is smaller then a hard drive. It can fit easily next to your hard drive or on the floor under a desk. There is no hum to this battery backup, which we have noticed with others.

I have to say after 1 week of usage it has already done its job daily. We typically lose power 1 to 4 times per day. Not once have my systems had to be rebooted. They all remain up and running when we have a blackout and no files have been lost. If you are as concerned as we are in not losing our equipment then this is definitely for you. This model is only available in limited stores however Best Buy does seem to carry it. If you do get it, let me know what you think, I know you won’t be disappointed.