Newbie here. I'm looking to set up a rack for better networking gear, my PC's, some Raspberry Pi's, and eventually a NAS. One thing I see everywhere are UPS battery backups.

I've never used a UPS in my entire PC life, and I've experienced a handful of power outages when I'm using my computer. I do use a (probably cheap) surge protector, though. Nothing bad has ever happened. Am I just lucky? Is an unexpected power-outage event for a NAS or Network gear any worse than for a PC? Or if I'm merely lucky, are the dice rolls for damage basically the same? Are there "smart" (ugh) UPS that detect power outages and automatically begin shutting everything down safely?

Also, I don't (think) I want or need my gear to be on all the time. I don't see why I'd need a NAS filled with recreational media to be on when I'm asleep. So what's all this hub-bub about continuous uptime on home networks? Do NAS drives prefer to be on 24/7? Do folks power down their servers every night?