Losing all the data stored on a 14TB HDD in an instant — especially if it's data from over the past 14+ years — must be a very painful experience. This recently happened to Redditor HellBlade64, who told fellow members of the PC building community that they were “not angry, just disappointed with myself.”
Why? Because, despite knowing about the dangers of non-standardized cabling between modular PSUs, they “threw caution to the wind” and ended up frying their 14TB Seagate Exos X16. The drive died with an unceremonious “click," and is now completely unresponsive, with many un-backed-up videos lost.
HellBlade64 described this tragic data loss event as the “biggest mistake I’ve ever made.” But it's an easy mistake to make, even in 2026.
The underlying issue is the lack of standardization between PSU makers — and even between PSU models from the same brand. In this particular case, HellBlade64 seems to have plugged a modular SATA power cable into their Seasonic Focus, only to discover that the modular cable wasn’t one of the bundled cables that came with that specific PSU.
The risk with SATA drives is that 12V (drive motor) and 5V (logic) lines live on the same cable, and they might be the wrong way round if you use a modular cable that didn't come with your PSU. As the drive electronics don’t have any protection against such mishaps, the HDD controller electronics were probably fried (by 12V) in a millisecond. The click HellBlade64 heard was likely the PSU tripping to protect itself from the shorted SATA drive electronics. (It would then prevent reboots until the SATA drive was unplugged.)
PSA: Don’t mix modular cables between modular PSUs — even from the same brand — unless the manufacturer specs assure compatibility.
What to do if you fry your drive
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