Question What should I do with an external hard drive that was compromised due to plugging into a power cord with adjustable voltage and smoking a little bit?

[Misgar]

I plug it in to my drive and a little bit of smoke came out

When "magic smoke" comes out of equipment, it usually means it's (burnt) toast. Replacing the TVS diode on the hard disk might work.

Found another power cord that has adjustable voltage.

Presumably your "cord" is in fact, a mains power brick with a DC output and a voltage selector, e.g something like this? A cord is a passive device, i.e. a length of flex, wire, electric cable, etc.

I got the original cord to work, the green light came on meaning it has power.

No, this doesn't necessarily mean the drive is still receiving power. It just indicates the LED on the interface card is still working. The remainder of the circuit may be a charred mess.

...Yes, I work with pro audio a lot. the drive has 8tb on it.

By the sounds of it, you have an 8TB desktop drive with a USB 3.0 interface, as sold by Seagate or Western Digital. Inside the plastic case, you'll find a "standard" 3.5in SATA hard disk.

You cannot directly connect a USB cable to a SATA drive. Instead you need a special USB-to-SATA converter, which takes the form of a small printed circuit board, plugged into the back of the drive. This board converts USB to SATA and SATA to USB, so you can write data to the disk and read data back.

In the photo below, the USB-to-SATA converter is the small triangular shaped board in the top right hand corner. The larger rectangular(ish) green board underneath is part of the hard disk drive.

If you are VERY, VERY, lucky indeed, all you have destroyed is the USB-to-SATA converter board. The hard disk itself might still be intact.

To check if this is true, you could "shuck" the drive by breaking into the plastic case, pull out the hard disk, unplug the triangular USB-to-SATA board and make direct connections to the SATA data and power ports on the drive.

This video shows you how to "shuck" a drive. The terminology comes from the process used to remove oysters (live) from their shells.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rpHlgHhrGA


Shucking is performed by people looking for cheap hard disks. Seagate and Western Digital do not make life easy. You are virtually guaranteed to break off some of the plastic tabs holding the two halves of the case together. This may invalidate the warranty, but you're past caring now.

Since the hard disk may also have suffered serious damage when "magic smoke" appeared, if you connect it directly to the motherboard inside a desktop computer, you might damage the computer. Try this at your own risk.

A safer option is to use a powered USB-to-SATA converter or docking station. Note: Unlike 2.5in USB drives which are "bus powered", a 3.5in drive needs +5V and +12V DC from an external source. The images below are for illustration only. They do not necessarily indicate your best option from local suppliers. If the adapter does not include +5V and +12V, your shucked drive will not power up.

After plugging the hard drive into the adapter, connect the USB cable to the computer and see what happens. If it works, give $20 to your favourite charity and be more careful next time (make backups).

One potentially serious "gotcha" is that in the past, some USB-to-SATA converters employed "sector translation". This meant you couldn't read the data off the drive without the USB converter card installed. Not common these days. The data was still there, but the computer couldn't read it, until you found a compatible adapter.
https://www.klennet.com/notes/2018-04-14-usb-and-sector-size.aspx
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/hy83hm/sector_size_fiasco_and_recommendations_for/

I label the DC plugs on all my power bricks if they aren't +12V DC. I have some network switches than need +5V and a 10GbE MikroTik SFP+ optical switch with a +24V input. I hate to think what would happen if I plugged the 24V supply into the 5V switch. Magic smoke time.

 

[JonChicoSchneider]

A bit overwhelming. if done correctly will this drive have all data intact and functioning like it should in windows?

 

[USAFRet]

A bit overwhelming. if done correctly will this drive have all data intact and functioning like it should in windows?

No telling until you actually try it.

 

[JonChicoSchneider]

Unfortunately I don't know anyone with electronic skills, myself included. Big question though. Is there ever a result (excluding above) that has all the file and folder names intact? Or do all of these methods (including EaseUS Data Recovery for example) result in "batch filenames (like with a number system or something)?"

 

[Misgar]

Unfortunately I don't know anyone with electronic skills, myself included.

You don't need any electronic skills to connect a hard disk to a USB port on a computer. You've been doing it for years, Buy a docking cradle, pop your 8TB drive intp the slot (after cracking open the case and unscrewing the converter card), then plug the USB lead into the computer.

Big question though. Is there ever a result (excluding above) that has all the file and folder names intact?

The "magic smoke" means something inside tha case is cremated, destroyed, damaged, no longer working. You've got to take some positive course of action.

You can continue testing the drive in its current condition until you're blue in the face, but you won't achieve anything if components inside have melted. It's a bit like sitting in a car with a broken clutch, selecting first and revving the engine. A complete waste of time.

The USB-to-SATA converter board is the first link in the power chain and has probably fried (hence the smoke). Think of this board as a burnt out clutch. Do you think tha car will ever move properly under its own steam without some work? No.

Are there any reputable computer repair shops in the area? Check the local small ads for repair technicians. If not, either send the drive to a professional Recovery House, or offer the kid next door $50 to crack open the case and test the drive in their gaming rig.

It's a 15 minute DIY job. 5 minutes to break open the case. 5 minutes to plug it into a PC, 5 minutes to see if any files are readable. Then you'll know if you've been incredibly lucky, or it's time to pay up to $1,000 for a professional. Or you can just sit around asking "what if" questions.

As Wallace said, when he had a difficult decision to make:
"No use prevaricating about the bush".

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-GoFpBHEvc

Good luck.