Hi,

I was attempting to power up my WD external drive using an adjustable power supply (comes with several different sized plugs ). I set it to 12v and used the correct plug, but got the polarity wrong. Something blew with a quiet "click" and a faint burning smell...

I was wondering is it worth buying another and swapping out the disk. Or have I likely blown the onboard controller or something.

Thanks

You need to determine whether the damage is on the USB-SATA bridge board, or on the drive's own PCB, or both. The drive has a 12V TVS diode to protect its +12V supply. The bridge board may have its own protection devices.

If you upload detailed photos of the component sides of each PCB, one of us will help you identify the likely culprits.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

If the data is important send it to a pro. Have you tried powering the drive outside of the external case?

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.