3 Simple Ways to Save Your Work From a Power Outage

If you’ve had any level of experience with modern technology, then you’ve almost certainly experienced the heartache associated with losing hours of work due to a power interruption or some other malfunction.

Fortunately, with a little bit of proactivity on your part, you can significantly reduce the risk of lost work.

Following these steps will ensure your productivity doesn’t take a hit when lightning strikes (literally and figuratively speaking).

Use a UPS

You might think of UPS as an acronym for that brown package carrier. However, UPS is also an acronym for “uninterrupted power supply.” It’s something you need if you value your time and effort.

A UPS will keep you powered even when the power grid has failed. If there’s a blackout in your neighborhood, your UPS will still provide electricity to every electronic device connected to it.

Of course, a UPS is run by a battery, and batteries don’t last forever. However, power outages don’t last forever, either. If your UPS outlasts your blackout (a very likely possibility if you get a good UPS), then it’s likely that you can go on working without a loss of more than a few moments of your time.

There are numerous companies, such as CoastTec, that offer great deals on UPS systems. It’s a small investment that pays big dividends down the road when you find yourself in the jurisdiction of Murphy’s Law and something goes wrong at the worst possible moment.

Back Up Your Work

If you haven’t followed the previous piece of advice about obtaining a UPS (or even if you have), you should be certain that your important files are backed up somewhere.

Power outages can sometimes cause hardware failures. Some of those failures are permanent. If all of your important files were on your hard drive and suddenly that hard drive becomes inaccessible, then you could find yourself in a great deal of trouble.

There are numerous ways to back up your files. One way is to use a cloud service, such as Google Drive. You can think of Google Drive as your hard drive away from home. If the hard drive on your laptop or desktop crashes, you can simply download the backed up files from Google Drive to your new computer and start working again.

Go Old School

If you’ve got some important documents on your PC and you absolutely don’t want to lose them to the inevitable failures of technology, print them out and place them in a fireproof box. All of the technological solutions in the world won’t save you if there is a major disaster that causes a weeks-long massive power outage. Prepare for that contingency and preserve hard copies of your important files by using old school backup methods.

You’ve put a great deal of time and effort into your work. Practice proper safeguards to ensure that your time wasn’t wasted.

Image by GeorgeYanakiev.com

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Written by:
Kayla Matthews is a tech productivity blogger who writes for MakeUseOf and The Gadget Flow. Follow Kayla on Google+ and Twitter, or read her latest posts on her blog, Productivity Bytes.
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