Enthusiast fries 14TB HDD due to SATA power slipup — bemoans lack of SATA power safety and modular PSU cable standardization

The underlying issue is the lack of standardization between PSU makers — and even between PSU models from the same brand. In this particular case, HellBlade64 seems to have plugged a modular SATA power cable into their Seasonic Focus , only to discover that the modular cable wasn’t one of the bundled cables that came with that specific PSU. The risk with SATA drives is that 12V (drive motor) and 5V (logic) lines live on the same cable, and they might be the wrong way round if you use a modular cable that didn't come with your PSU. As the drive electronics don’t have any protection against such mishaps, the HDD controller electronics were probably fried (by 12V) in a millisecond. The click HellBlade64 heard was likely the PSU tripping to protect itself from the shorted SATA drive electronics. (It would then prevent reboots until the SATA drive was unplugged.)

PSA: Don’t mix modular cables between modular PSUs — even from the same brand — unless the manufacturer specs assure compatibility.

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Reference reading

• https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
• https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/enthusiast-fries-14tb-hdd-due-to-sata-power-slipup-bemoans-lack-of-sata-power-safety-and-modular-psu-cable-standardization#main
• https://www.tomshardware.com

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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.