It would not "destroy everything." A solar EMP will kill any electronics hooked up to the electrical grid, or the telephone lines, or to TV cables, or to an outside antenna. Think long wires. Any devices you own that are not hooked up to anything will be safe from a solar EMP. Of course, many of those devices will be useless, as the services are connected and will be screwed.
On the other hand, a nuclear EMP will kill portable devices as well as the connected devices.
In any case, people need spares that are disconnected and stored in Faraday cages.
Even if most services are destroyed, surviving devices still have many uses.
So using my desktop pc as an example, if it's plugged into a power board, does it run the risk of being destroyed in such an event? Does a surge protection board help?
Alright thanks, so you take this seriously enough to have another computer or you just happen to? What about HAM radios and stuff, guessing it's pretty common for people with this in mind to have them in case of infrastructure breakdown. Do they need to be in a faraday cage or such as people suggest for certain devices?
I store extras of all electronics in Faraday cages because of the possibility of a nuclear EMP. That would come with zero warning. I store a computer, shortwave radio, regular am/fm radio, a set of family service radios, a digital camera and memory cards, and some extra hard drives with backups of important files.
At least with solar flares and solar EMP, I get an email that gives me a couple of days to unplug things, if a large X class flare launches. I don't care about the direction. I just unplug until it's safe. So far, in over 10 years of getting alerts, we haven't gotten a really large X class flare. There have been several that affected communications a bit, but nothing drastic.
It would not "destroy everything." A solar EMP will kill any electronics hooked up to the electrical grid, or the telephone lines, or to TV cables, or to an outside antenna. Think long wires. Any devices you own that are not hooked up to anything will be safe from a solar EMP. Of course, many of those devices will be useless, as the services are connected and will be screwed.
On the other hand, a nuclear EMP will kill portable devices as well as the connected devices.
In any case, people need spares that are disconnected and stored in Faraday cages.
Even if most services are destroyed, surviving devices still have many uses.
So using my desktop pc as an example, if it's plugged into a power board, does it run the risk of being destroyed in such an event? Does a surge protection board help?
A desktop pc plugged in would be toast, even with a surge protector. I have an extra computer, but if there's a warning, unplug everything.
Alright thanks, so you take this seriously enough to have another computer or you just happen to? What about HAM radios and stuff, guessing it's pretty common for people with this in mind to have them in case of infrastructure breakdown. Do they need to be in a faraday cage or such as people suggest for certain devices?
I store extras of all electronics in Faraday cages because of the possibility of a nuclear EMP. That would come with zero warning. I store a computer, shortwave radio, regular am/fm radio, a set of family service radios, a digital camera and memory cards, and some extra hard drives with backups of important files.
At least with solar flares and solar EMP, I get an email that gives me a couple of days to unplug things, if a large X class flare launches. I don't care about the direction. I just unplug until it's safe. So far, in over 10 years of getting alerts, we haven't gotten a really large X class flare. There have been several that affected communications a bit, but nothing drastic.