Question Burning smell coming from PC on and off for ~4 months, might be HDD ?

[Klaz49]

Morning.
for the past 4 months or so, I've been smelling what seemed to be a faint "burning" smell which i thought came from my pc. I asked family about it and most said they didnt really smell anything, but sometimes randomly a few days/week or even few times a month, I would just barely smell something. I had no clue what it what. I honestly started doubting it was my PC, i thought maybe I had brain damage or long covid that is making me smell it faintly. I even thought it may have been my PSU, because i had a problem in the past where ants where trying to live in it, but I blew them out. I eventually decided to replace my PSU and PC case(other issue with it), but the smell was still here.
Then earlier today, I was going through an old HDD looking for some audio files. while looking, I started to smell the burning faintly and kinda just ignored it assuming it was nothing, until it started to get somewhat stronger. It then hit me, that maybe the burning smell is coming from that old HDD? Or maybe one of my SSDs?
There are no problems with it tho, it works just fine. However, I have had the HDD somewhere between 8-12 years. The randomness of the burning smell kinda makes sense if it was the HDD, because sometimes it could be a week(s) without it, then suddenly I have the smell for like a day or two. So im wondering If theres anything I can do to perhaps make that HDD (or my other SSDs) work hard for a fixed period of time, so that I can confirm whether or not any of them are the cause of the smell that has been bugging me for months.

Windows 10 pro 64bit
RTX 2080 Super
Ryzen 9 3900x
32GB ram G.Skill Ripjaws
MOBO: TUF gaming X570 plus (Non wifi edition)
PSU: EVGA 850 G6 Super Nova (~1 month old)
SSD#1: Crucial MX500 t1b
SSD#2: Samsung 840 Evo
HDD(the one in question): WD 1002faex-00z3a0

 

[Lutfij]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model.

I'd start looking into all connections from the PSU to your respective innards/components in the chassis to rule out an improper connection causing a burn.

 

[Klaz49]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model.

I'd start looking into all connections from the PSU to your respective innards/components in the chassis to rule out an improper connection causing a burn

Edited.
Psu was changed about a month ago, so the PSU and any connections to hardware are out of the question since I also replaced all sata cables.
So at this point it's either one of the hardwares attached to my pc, or the motherboard itself (or im crazy).

 

[Klaz49]

So I decided to move what data i had on the HDD to a USB.
I then shut down my pc, disconnected the power cable from the PSU, and attempted to slot out the HDD and smell it to see if maybe thats where it was coming from.
However, when I touched the top of the HDD (metal), I got what seemed to be a electrical sensation. It was like a very minor constant shock or tickle. Im not sure if this was just an electrical charge or something else, but I disconnected the power to the hdd, then it was gone.
Im not sure if this was the cause of burning smell, ill just have to wait days/weeks and see I guess.