Beware summer's hidden kick

I've been watching my server's temperature charts with mild interest over recent weeks. As summer has truly kicked in, so the fans have been working harder as the internal temperature has climbed.

There's a clear seasonal trend. But although the logs show nothing to worry about, along comes one company bearing cause for alarm - or if not alarm, concern.

Could I (and maybe you too) be a tad complacent?

Data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack has dished out a press release with useful advice for the summer. It starts with suggesting you keep your computers "in a cool, dry area to prevent overheating". Check.

It also reminds that summer brings not just high temperatures but thunderstorms too. “Severe weather can cause significant computer damage,” says Robert Winter, chief engineer of data recovery at Kroll.

So most of the missive concerns itself with protection against current surges and spikes, and with current smoothing in case your supply is affected by other devices on the circuit. There's a number of resolutions suggested, such as surge protectors, dedicated circuits, and disconnecting during a thunderstorm, but the simplest is the one you should be doing anyway: get a UPS, connect it, and test it regularly. End of.

The USP doesn't just protect against power outages, it's a great current smoother too as most of them use the battery as a buffer so that you're not actually running off the mains at all.

It's not sunny as I write this -- in fact it's raining -- but that could be the precursor to a thunderstorm. So that's a useful reminder to test the UPSes once more.