Can anyone here share there experiences where a power outage during recording to hdd consequentially crashed the hdd? Has this happened to you? Did the machine recover gracefully, or did it corrupt the whole volume?

Is this enough of a concern to put your hdd recorder on a UPS (uninterruptible power supply)? How many of you have done this?

Can anyone here share there experiences where a power outage during recording to hdd consequentially crashed the hdd? Has this happened to you? Did the machine recover gracefully, or did it corrupt the whole volume?

Is this enough of a concern to put your hdd recorder on a UPS (uninterruptible power supply)? How many of you have done this?

No crashes because I have all of my units on a UPS system. As a computer geek from way back I know all about hard disk drives and power outages. I highly recommend using a UPS for all expensive electronic equipment. If you use a true UPS that conditions the power and always supplies clean, regulated power to your devices, I feel certain they will last longer and give you fewer problems. Voltage sags on home power are very prevalent these days with the overloaded grids, as well as spikes. And where I live, brief outages during thunderstorms are very common.

If you ever have one of those crazy events (happen here sometimes in the winter) where the power goes off and on and off and on rapidly 5 or 6 times, you'll be very glad you have a UPS unit on your TV, recorders, computers and any other expensive device. It's an added expense but well worth it, I think.

I recently ran across some Belkin units that are very reasonably priced and every bit as good as Tripplite, APC, and the others. Better even. I really like them. Get the full ("true") UPS units that deliver clean power at all times, they cost a little more, but it's worth it.

I have a Sony RDR-HX750 and a few days ago the power went out while I was recording on HDD. After the power came back on and I turned the unit back on, no problems, no loss of anything (other than the interrupted recording).

I own Pioneer recorders which if recording when a power failure hits will resume recording when the power returns, but beware:

My first DVDR was a Pioneer 633 that got hit one day and was fried. The power went off briefly during a recording and when I saw it resumed recording, I walked away but then the power failed several times quickly before I could react and the recorder never came on again. I suspect the power supply circuit was fried.

I also recommend using a UPS and unplugging expensive equipment in a lightning storm.

That lightning strike was down the road (not even that close) and it took out my TV, DVDR, Computer NIC, 2 modems, router and even damaged an A/C circuit in the wall! (I suspect the wire was already damaged.) Most of the equipment was already protected by good quality APC UPSs (not just A/C but also phone lines) yet look at the casualties.

Now when there's a lightning storm, I unplug everything important until I deem it safe. While I've been saved many times by a UPS, most brands of UPS seem to have trouble recovering when the power fails or surges/spikes multiple times quickly, and that's not uncommon in a storm. Also, I figure no matter how good a UPS is, if lightning can jump many miles/kms through the air, it can jump past a safety circuit in a UPS. I don't think any UPS is really intended to handle a direct strike, and certainly can't unless very well grounded.

One more word of caution: If you use a UPS, be sure to test it regularly especially if it is over 3 or 4 years old.

The lead-acid batteries have a limited lifespan and if the battery is no longer adequate, it's worse than having no UPS at all because in every little brownout the UPS wants to switch to battery, and if there's not enough juice, your equipment loses power!

Also, in the event of an extended power failure, be sure to shut down all equipment on a UPS asap because (like the battery in your car,) every time the lead-acid battery is drained completely, it loses some of its ability to hold a charge and you get less time on battery the next time you need it.

Good advice! I quite agree. Nothing stops lightning! I've lost a few pieces of gear. Never anything that was on a UPS, but I do believe it is possible. One of the reasons I like the Belkin units is the still have the power on/off that controls the connected devices, so during an outtage, after you have safely shut everything down, you can turn it off completely. Some of the newer units have dropped that capability and are "always on".

If there is a power outage while I'm recording something, what I'm recording is lost. Everything else on my hd is fine, and all settings on the recorder are still good.

I guess it is the computer background that made me concerned with hdd integrity in a dvd recorder. Probably, the big distinction between the 2 is that the computer will more likely be writing many short files and frequently updating the master directory, accordingly. If a power outage happens right when the master directory is being updated, that is probably when it can nuke the entire hdd. Since this can happen many times for many small files, that increases the opportunities for a broken master directory.

The dvd recorder, otoh, is recording long video files with possibly an update to its master directory at the beginning of a recording program, and most likely at the very end of the program. So a power outage could happen anywhere during the program and the most you lose is that one program. You could still be very unlucky and the outage happens right at the very moment the master directory is being updated (which would likely nuke the whole hdd), though. The vulnerability period is just very limited relative to the overall usage time compared to how an hdd is used on a typical computer, I'm guessing.

I still went out and put both my recorders (and the program source, as well) on a UPS, though. This was more to ensure that the program gets recorded and stays recorded, rather than concern of a hdd crash. It does feel good to have that extra level of protection, though.

Oddly, I don't yet have a UPS on my computer. :o ...but I will get one soon. It's just a Mac mini, and I can get a cheap $20 Conext UPS job for it. At $20, how can I neglect to do this? ;)

Is the HD really the problem with a power failure? I would think it would be the power supply or other electronic circuits. Back in the old days, HD crashes were a problem, but I have never experienced a HD crash problem with many power failures and the new HDs.

I gave up on UPS many years ago since ACPewety's advice, to unplug everything in a lightning storm, is the best. Especially since you do need to get a new battery for the UPS about every two or three years and unless you get a big expensive one, they will not adequately cover everything you have. You have to pick and choose what you want on it. Problem is, everything you do not want on it will probably still have connections (USB, phone, audio, tv, etc.) to what you have on the UPS, so you can still fry the UPS protected units. Pull the plug on everything and you isolate them. Power strips are your friend.

That's all well and good, but I think the UPS really comes into play if you have lots of unattended recordings. The UPS covers your back when you are not home or in the middle of the night (if a storm or outage comes through your town and you are not present to babysit your gear).

Speaking of memorable voltage sags from appliances, I had a misbehaving stovetop element once, that would seemingly short to the metal structure of the stove, intermittently (yes, it's been long since replaced). Once it really shorted out in a big way and I saw the lights dim to about 50% and the tv image went all shrunk and distorted! It all came back after 1-2 sec, and I was left wondering what the heck that was all about. Then I smell some serious electrical burning from the kitchen, and I knew what happened. There was no fire, but I'm sure it was trying to arc weld itself for a second or so. ;)

I agree with what you say about FL, though. I don't think I ever unplugged my electronics in an electrical storm (which were frequent). My AV stuff was on a surge suppressor hub and my computer stuff was on a UPC, though. That was it. The 2 things have served me well, and nothing ever got "struck" (though, I'm pretty sure I never took a direct hit, either). The UPC battery did die after a while, but I think I got a reasonable lifespan out of it. The wall mounted surge suppressor I used then is the very same one I use to this date...

However, have you ever noticed that the lights in your house dim or fade for a moment when a large appliance (such as a central A/C unit) starts up? That huge inrush of current to the A/C unit causes a mementary voltage drop on the other circuits in the house.


Yes, that does happen, but it shouldn't happen, if you have sufficient electrical service to the house, proper gage wiring, and the circuits aren't overloaded. That doesn't happen in my house, built in 1942, rewired in 1965, even when I switch on a three horse table saw. This effect is probably most common when the compressor of an old refrigerator turns on, on an overloaded circuit, or in an older house, that has had a lot of circuits added, but still 60, or 100 amp service.

Yes, that does happen, but it shouldn't happen, if you have sufficient electrical service to the house, proper gage wiring, and the circuits aren't overloaded. That doesn't happen in my house, built in 1942, rewired in 1965, even when I switch on a three horse table saw. This effect is probably most common when the compressor of an old refrigerator turns on, on an overloaded circuit, or in an older house, that has had a lot of circuits added, but still 60, or 100 amp service.

Mine was built in the 30's and I had to rewire it since it was on 60 amp two connector service. After we bought it I could feel warmth from the wires. On one 15 amp circuit (with a 30 am fuse) were the fridge, freezer, and the rest of the kitchen appliances, lights, plus the washing machine. I changed to 200 am service, circuit breakers and split them all out with new wires and plugs. Learned a lot about wiring a house.

My son's house was even worse with wire and pole wiring which we had to replace.

Totally agree that if you have brownouts in the house, your problems are not with worrying about electronic equipment frying, but fire.

I do not pull the plug if there are lightning storms in the area since we are at the bottom of a hill. I do turn off the power to my computer and associated equipment on the power strip. There was a strike many years back that fried everything in a house on the top of the hill.

I dunno if the manufacturer can really get away with a "poor" power supply these days with such sophisticated electronic equipment. If the power supply is leaking a lot of noise, that is just going to show up as interference in other areas of the device (sound or video output), let alone cause erratic operation of the computer components. If the power supply cannot regulate the voltage and current output to the device to an appreciable degree, the computer stuff inside is just going to lock up or crash every time the AC line dips. If the power supply is just plainly undersized for the device, then it is going to run hot most of the time and likely demonstrate an unexpectedly short lifespan whether or not you put a UPS or AC conditioner ahead of it.

I would not suspect that the oem power supplies are particularly shabby. It's just going to show up in so many ways in the general operation of the device, if it is, given the sophisticated nature of a heavily-computerized kind of product. In a cheap electro-mechanical device (such as an old style vcr), that is a place a manufacturer can slip in a cheap power supply. In a highly computer integrated dvd recorder, I would suspect the device simply could not operate reliably in the same scenario. Such a shortcoming would be pretty obvious, and I expect it surely would be weeded out at the QA stage as being unfit for product release.

Look at the Philips DVDR3575H/37 threads. :D

I have not seen a power supply issue on that thread and I also own a 3575. Power supplies, in general, are fairly simple circuits and have been around a long time. Nor have I seen any issues with the HD and crashes.

There is no problem with adding a UPS, but I had several different ones for years and had more problems with them than finally just removing them and dealing with power company problems. We have power glitches (the company shifting power with an interruption) as well as outright failures when my computer and recorder were on, and I have never had a problem. As I noted earlier, current HD are not like the old timers that would crash with a power failure because they could not park and the head would contact the disk. I think we are solving a problem that is minimal at best, as far as the HD in a recorder is concerned.

Truth is, most HD failures are because of heat and inadequate ventilation. So if you fry the fan, then you will have a problem.

Yes, in fact our modern computers' HDDs are full of errors and rely heavily on error correction to keep us running without constant failures. This undoubtedly also applies to DVDR HDDs since they are the same hardware.

I don't think this would help for a DVDR's HDD, (unless perhaps you stuck it in a computer but even then there's probably an O/S compatibility problem,) but here's a link to a well recommended program called Spinright (http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm) that diagnoses and fixes many computer HDD problems. It's been around for a long time and is written by Steve Gibson, a well respected developer. There's also some descriptions of what's going on in layman's terms here (http://www.grc.com/sroverview.htm).

The bottom line is that power glitches can and do cause hard disk drive corruption. If you can’t assess the hard drive with diagnostics, you have no way of knowing the extent of the damage and no way to repair said damage.

More and more this looks like a solution looking for a problem. If the HD is corrupted, it will show up when you try to play a file. If that happens, you delete the file. You may have to delete all the stored files, but we know that all of us back up any files we want to keep around on DVD, so that is not a problem.

However, this kind of problem is more likely to happen with software glitches than power failures, and most of those are, or get to be, fairly well known on this forum. I have had to delete one corrupted file with no further problem after that. The problem is rare, and in my case, self induced. Wanted to see if my Polaroid would record a copy protected VHS tape. The resulting file was corrupted and caused problems. Deleted it and all was well.

Plus, if you have a power failure when recording, I would write off the attempt. You know the file will be corrupted, incomplete and fairly worthless. I have lost several programs that way with no HD problems. Not much of an issue since there are always re-runs.

Again, I have no problem with UPS or any other safeguard, just I do not see it as something to worry about with today's technology (corrupted files or bad sectors on a recorder HD). As noted, heat will do in a HD faster than much anything else.

That's really more of a "cover your butt" kind of disclaimer. The wording suggests that when a problem has occurred, then those are the likely causes. It's not guaranteeing that a problem will occur at the very hint of any one of those conditions arising. It also does not qualify the degree of any problem that should appear (if it is minor, self-correctable, moderate, affects one file vs. affects the entire volume, or fatal). I would not wield the statement as if to be some sort of ten commandment (it's really a common sense guidance, if you think about it).

When I had a short that killed my power my old Panasonic E100 that was recording at the time got killed. Don't know about the newer Panasonics.

However my Sony HX900 is like bulletproof. Power goes off while it's still on and nothing happens to it. Even did it on purpose a couple times for different reasons and it still works. Now I have a UPS on it, just in case.