HDD Just Caught Fire!

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:08

Hey Overclockers, Just plugged in my PC, flicked the switch on my PSU and powered it on. I had the case door open luckily enough and seen the HDD catch fire so I turned off the PC straight away and the fire stopped instantly, turned it back on and more fire left if for a while and rebooted it no flame but it's not being read as a bootable disk by my PC! Anyone any idea why this would happen? And to make matters worse I dropped my 3TB external yesterday and broke it! FML :mad:

Josh · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:13

Chesney420 said:
HDD catch fire...more fire...not being read as a bootable disk by my PC! Anyone any idea why this would happen?

Yeah Fire+HDD = dead HDD. Kinda obvious when it comes to electrical equipment.

Rroff · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:19

Wait... flames came from your HDD and you thought it was a good idea to try turning it on again?

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:28

Yeah I knew it was going to be dead so thought why not :/ haha Any idea why this would happen though? PSU problem maybe?

Finners · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:36

You must be fuming!....

Can only assume it was the motor inside and it drew too much current and caught fire.

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:39

Absolutely gutted mate. Two HDDs in two days. must have walked under thirty ladders. Is this my own fault or would I be entitled to a replacement off the company I bought it from/NZXT or Western Digital? All I litterally did was turn it on :/

Rroff · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:40

SMD capacitors "can" catch fire especially tantalums (though most PC part manufacturers shy away from them these days). In which case while fiddly swapping the logic board for one of the same type from a working HDD could potentially allow you to get data off it.

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:50

Added a photo of where the burn is as I forgot to do that in the first place if that's any help.

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:51

Rroff said:
SMD capacitors "can" catch fire especially tantalums (though most PC part manufacturers shy away from them these days). In which case while fiddly swapping the logic board for one of the same type from a working HDD could potentially allow you to get data off it.

Thanks, I'll try that if I can get my hands on another one.

koolpc · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:52

That is strange! Never seen that before

wazza300 · 4 Apr 2015 at 18:54

it was a mission impossible sourced hdd (this hdd will self destruct) :eek:

component failure/damp short circuit idk,you were lucky to catch it

Rroff · 4 Apr 2015 at 19:45

That looks like it would be right above an inductor - I've never seen that before.

Randomface74 · 4 Apr 2015 at 19:47

time to buy an SSD

Dervious · 4 Apr 2015 at 20:04

Chesney420 said:
Anyone any idea why this would happen?

Yes.

Something went faulty, probably on the hard drive.

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 22:07

Dervious said:
Yes.

Something went faulty, probably on the hard drive.

Would that be my fault? Would I be entitled to a replacement?

Chesney420 · 4 Apr 2015 at 22:41

billysielu said:
time to buy an SSD

Think you're right just need to get the funds together hehe

ED209 · 5 Apr 2015 at 08:09

sorry to hear about the HDD catching fire, never heard of this before but anything is possible with PCs lol.

hope there was not any data you needed on it.

got an excuse to get a SSD now

hope you get it sorted soon, if you look about their might be some easter deals on a ssd

OracIe · 5 Apr 2015 at 08:31

Ouch, what make was it?

bledd · 5 Apr 2015 at 09:49

Drive is probably fine, just needs a new controller board.

I'd contact the manufacturer and link them to this thread!

darael · 5 Apr 2015 at 10:13

If you want the best chance of recovering your data, take pictures of both sides of your harddrive and both sides of the PCB then post here.

Otherwise, if you just want a replacement, contact WD.

I'd say you'd probably need a PCB and to transfer your existing ROM to the new PCB, which is going to involve some delicate soldering. But that's just speculation, the forum I linked you to will be more knowledgeable.