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My serious(and dumb) mistake.
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Posted by: Hendon
-Turn on computer
-You smell something burning
-Switch off computer
Logical.
-Assume PSU is burnt
-Check where the smoke is coming from.
It's the PSU alright. Assumption correct.
Expected Flow
-Replace PSU
-Computer back to normal.
Now this is where it gets interesting:
Taken flow:
-Out of curiosity and pure whim, switch PSU from 230v to 115v. Totally IGNORING what has been learnt about stepdown transformers in physics classes.
-Turn on computer.
-See sparks coming from your molex connectors.
-Turn off computer.
-Replace PSU.
-Turn on computer.
-Horror: Dead hard disks, dead floppy drive, dead CDROM drive, faulty sound card.
So there goes my sad story. I lost two hard disks in the split of a jiffy. One of them was supposed to be my backup drive because I keep very important data inside my computer and never did I ever expect both hard disks to die on me at the same time.
So now my question is: How much is it going to cost to recover those data? I have a 20GB primary(Seagate) and a 4GB secondary(Seagate medalist). If retrieving the 20GB is too expensive, the 4GB alone is enough, at least I don't lose that much.
I guess not much in the HDD are spoilt and the data is intact. Is there a chance that it's just the connectors that are spoilt and not the internal architecture?
Posted by: Hendon
btw,
The 4gb generates a clicking sound on power on and remains silent after that. The 20gb generates no noise but extreme heat.
They're both not detected at all.
Posted by: Boggy B
Hahahaha!
Sorry. 
When i was doing work experience a few years ago, the first thing i had to do was format a computer and re-install everything.
Little did i know, that this computer was ordered from america. I plugged it into our 230V plugs, it got twice the voltage it wanted.
Pzzzt Bang!
Minus one computer.
Although, all the stuff was salvageable in this case, except the power supply, of course. 
Anyway, enough nostalgic bullshit...
1) Send the HDD back to the manufacturer, it'll probably cost you more than the Hard drive is worth, and on top of that you'll probably end up having to buy another HDD to store all the recovered stuff on.
But they (being most companies) do a very good job, you're almost certain of getting your data back.
2) Freeze your HDD, i can't remember the specifics of this, i think it's usually said to be left in the freezer 3-4 hours, google it or something, there will be sites for such things, make sure its in a water-proof container though.
Failing this, you can usually go back to step one, just try and make sure the effects of the freezing have worn off by then.
Posted by: slugo3
I dont think the freezing trick will work in this case because the electronics are likely fried. the freezer thing works for drives that overheat and the metal parts expand and the freezing prevents the expansion or something like that. I wouldnt try this unless you know your not going to send it somewhere for data recovery because it could make it worse. If you had an identical drive you could try replacing the circuit board, ive read about some people sucessfully doing this on usenet. other than that google for data recovery. http://www.ontrack.com/ is a well known one that Ive tried for clients a few times with mixed results but they are very expansive.
Its a little late now but you should never use a hard drive for backup, hard drives fail all the time. burn to a CD/R or use a zip / tape drive or something.
Posted by: redwench
um, those both fail all the time too.......
make sure to test your hardware in another computer, as it might be the motherboard causing the problems. although thats a wee bit unlikely, its possible. but yes, check with the drive manufacturer to see if they do recovery, and the cost. it will take a month or 2 and a lot of cash.
next time something poofs, turn off the computer and LEAVE IT OFF until the offending part is removed.
Posted by: slugo3
 Quote:
Originally posted by redwench
um, those both fail all the time too.......
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yeah well all medium fails so I guess you should just never back stuff up right? the point is that hard drives are probably the most unreliable part in a PC. tapes and CD's if stored properly will always last longer.
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