Stuck a live SATA cable into a powered PSU - fried 3 drives instantly

I was swapping drives in a server rack at a small office near Denver last Tuesday. Got in a hurry, didn't double check which cable was already live, and shoved a SATA power connector right into a drive that was still getting juice. Three WD Reds popped and smelled like burnt plastic before I could yank the cord. Cost me about $450 in replacements and a whole afternoon restoring from backups. Has anyone else built a quick pre-check habit to stop this from happening again?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna89124d ago

Rushing through a drive swap is on you, not the hardware. A simple visual check and labeling your cables before you start would've caught that live line in about five seconds. Why not just tape over unused connectors or use a multimeter to confirm power is off before touching anything?

the_patricia24d ago

And @luna891, sometimes you just DON'T have time to label EVERYTHING when you're in the middle of a crisis.