Can removing a hard drive damage the power cable/supply?

[The Slash]

I read somewhere that it is possible to damage the power cable and/or
power supply by removing the hard drive. Is this true? If so, how and
why? The reason I ask is because I think I might have damaged my own
power supply by doing so. Is there a way to tell for sure, and/or a way
to fix it if I did in fact damage it?

 

[ghn]

I read somewhere that it is possible to damage the power cable and/or
power supply by removing the hard drive. Is this true? If so, how and
why? The reason I ask is because I think I might have damaged my own
power supply by doing so. Is there a way to tell for sure, and/or a way
to fix it if I did in fact damage it?

I have never damaged a power supply by removing a harddrive. I blew the hell
out of my whole computer when I hooked a floppy drive up while it was
running (I was to lazy to shut it down and was off by just one little pin).
Unless you cut the power cable to the drive instead of unplugged it then you
would have damaged the cable. You could mess up the supply that way too.
Like I said I have never screwed up a supply by doing things the proper way
(removing power and unplugging drive).

 

[Peter Dettmann]

I read somewhere that it is possible to damage the power cable and/or
power supply by removing the hard drive. Is this true? If so, how and
why? The reason I ask is because I think I might have damaged my own
power supply by doing so. Is there a way to tell for sure, and/or a way
to fix it if I did in fact damage it?

It is very unlikely that you would have a fault occur in the power
supply, and such would be just a coincidence, and not due to removing
the drive. However of course it is quite possible that the connction
cable could be damaged due to mechanical stress when disconnecting -
especially if you pulled on the cable rather than just the connector.

Peter Dettmann

 

[Puckdropper]

I read somewhere that it is possible to damage the power cable and/or
power supply by removing the hard drive. Is this true? If so, how and
why? The reason I ask is because I think I might have damaged my own
power supply by doing so. Is there a way to tell for sure, and/or a way
to fix it if I did in fact damage it?

Sure, why not? It's possible.

A couple thinking points:
1. Sometimes those connectors are TIGHT, and it takes a lot of energy to
remove them.
2. Don't remove and plug in power cables with the PSU on. Even if you
don't screw it up, some reset when a sudden new load is added.
3. Any physical movement is a chance for failure.

Puckdropper

 

[Mark Fortune]

I have never damaged a power supply by removing a harddrive. I blew the hell
out of my whole computer when I hooked a floppy drive up while it was
running (I was to lazy to shut it down and was off by just one little pin).
Unless you cut the power cable to the drive instead of unplugged it then you
would have damaged the cable. You could mess up the supply that way too.
Like I said I have never screwed up a supply by doing things the proper way
(removing power and unplugging drive).

in my time, i've never had a power supply damaged by plugging/unplugging
drives (apart from the odd molex connector which was a little too tight
- but nothing unrepairable with a pair of snipe nosed pliars). For that
matter, i've also hooked up many floppy drives with the computer still
on (I too have the lazy gene) - although I dont recommend it, it's
perfectly doable. Although the last time I did this I discovered that
the power cable to my hard disk was loose, and most systems do not like
power interruption to the hard disks... system rebooted and some of my
files got corrupted

Mark