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Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
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Burnt HDD by connecting molex in reverse polarity

September 8th, 2020, 2:07

I have an IDE HDD which I connect to my laptop using an adaptor and converter. Today the adaptor died. the model no. is sy-002-5-12. I think I connected the Molex in reverse polarity which might have fried something in that adaptor.

For reference, this is how the kit looks like https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07NZ8MJ1D/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AQHR9HELNQFEH&psc=1


Today I tried to connect my old 450W SMPS to my HDD by jump-starting it and connected the Molex pins to the HDD input. After connecting, I restarted my PC. This is when I saw fumes coming out of that Molex connector. A component from the HDD PCB looks burned. Attaching pictures for reference. Also, the red wire in the Molex connector from SMPS looks burned.

Before removing the component:https://imgur.com/a/HnFDHT0


I looked through some answers here in this forum and some youtube videos. The component which looks cracked up seems to be a TVS diode(5V). I tested with a multimeter, it was a short circuit. Hence, I removed it to make it open circuit again.
After removing the component:https://imgur.com/a/NFqCW9v

Today, I am looking forward to testing the HDD again with the SMPS. However, I have 2 doubts:
1. The red wire of the Molex cable looks fried from outside but it was still working when I connected it yesterday to the HDD. If the problem with the HDD then the cable should work fine right?
2. As I have removed the 5V protection, is it safe to test the HDD now?

Re: Burnt HDD by connecting molex in reverse polarity

September 8th, 2020, 3:50

U would not like to run that hdd without the TVS protection, especially when it was already toasted once by that PSU. The next one would be smoking everything on the pcb plus the preamp inside in case of an overvoltage.
I would check the voltage on that connector for being in acceptable limits. Use a multimeter.
Make sure the red wire goes near the ata connector side of the MOLEX ( where the burnt TVS is) and the yellow one goes to the side towards the edge.
Measure both voltages, the red one should be near 5V, the yellow one should be near 12V.

pepe

Re: Burnt HDD by connecting molex in reverse polarity

September 8th, 2020, 4:51

pepe wrote:U would not like to run that hdd without the TVS protection, especially when it was already toasted once by that PSU. The next one would be smoking everything on the pcb plus the preamp inside in case of an overvoltage.
I would check the voltage on that connector for being in acceptable limits. Use a multimeter.
Make sure the red wire goes near the ata connector side of the MOLEX ( where the burnt TVS is) and the yellow one goes to the side towards the edge.
Measure both voltages, the red one should be near 5V, the yellow one should be near 12V.

pepe


If I get 5-6V on the red one and around 12 on yellow, is it safe to test the HDD on that SMPS? I am just cautious because I don't want anything to catch fire. HDD doesn't contain any important data. SMPS is otherwise useless to me because my mobo is dead.

Re: Burnt HDD by connecting molex in reverse polarity

September 8th, 2020, 6:12

Moderator, kindly close the thread because the issue is solved by following the steps mentioned in OP.
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