I recently destroyed one of my computer's most vital components- the hard drive. I lost all my data including documents, MP3s, and installed programs. It was a 160GB Maxtor, with an 8MB Buffer, and 7200RPM, and was almost full. The failure was caused by a case fan which had one of its energized supply contacts (5 Volt positive) touch the case. This sent a surge of power through all the devices on the fan's leg of the power supply, which included the hard drive. When this happened, the computer immediately shut off. I reset the power supply, and turned it back on, and immediately noticed that the HDD wasn't spinning up like usual. The UDMA-133 controller card it was on also refused to detect it, so I was forced to return the drive to Maxtor. Their tech support was great, and I was able to get an RMA within minutes. Using their express return procedure, I was back up within a week. The moral of the story- Do not ever connect a case fan to the same power supply leg as a sensitive device, such as a hard drive. You should also back up your system often.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 8-2-03