Hard Disk On Fire!

PS. Thanks for your messages through Facebook, SMS, IM, and even phone calls.  Miraculously, my computer is still alive and kicking.  I will try to address all your questions at one go.  This post also serves as a community reminder that a computer is an electronic appliance that if left unattended can be a fire hazard.

Today I work from home.  In fact, the doctor asked me to rest for two days.  But since the supposed drowsy medicine has yet to knock me off my feet and since workload is manageable, why not respond to work related queries while recovering from my flu?

This morning, the air conditioning was off.  Because the weather was (and still is) nice and cool.  And if this global cooling is to continue, I fully embrace the change with open arms.  This morning, while working with my desktop, I detected some burning smell.  Our condominium is currently under another round of renovation so I thought the smell came from outside.  Soon, I saw smoke rising from between my legs!  White dense smoke.  I thought to myself, “Woah, this is no good!”  I bent down like Beckham, relying on my then semi-defunct olfactory capability (due to semi-blocked nose) to sniff out where the problem lied.  It is a jungle down there.  I have so many wires and transformers and since my computer was still working, it did not occur to me that my computer was on fire.

But it was.

Besides the fancy blue neon light emitting from the fans of my computer, through the transparent panel, I saw a burning flame!  Like a tea-light you see on the table when you take out your partner for a romantic dinner, except, the flame was upside down.  It was surreal.  Something was burning inside my computer but it was still working.  Like a beast that suddenly sensed real danger, my heartbeat went up.  The first thing I did was to properly shutdown my computer.  And then I thought, “This is taking too long!”  I switched off the main power (in retrospect, that should have been the first thing I did but hey, aren’t we all programmed to shutdown the computer properly since the good old days of Windows 95?), tried my best to take out the screws of the casing in record time, and when I came face to face with the naked flame, I give it a huge blow.  Fortunately it went off on first attempt.  When I took out the hard disk – with my oven glove – I saw a charred body as seen in the photo above.  Bones would have loved to see it.  You can’t quite see clearly in this picture.  Half of the disk was burned.  Miraculously, the rest of my computer seems to be working fine.  I have my data resided in a Network Attached Server (like a home file server) as well as a hot backup external hard disk, so I was not that concerned about the loss of data.  However, the thought of a computer catching fire is scary.

I am not sure how many of you have this habit of leaving your computer on, unattended.  I certain do.  But I don’t think I will any more.

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Here are the answers to some of the frequently asked questions.

Has this happened to you before?

Not exactly.  But one time, I saw sparks coming from the computer’s transformer, smelt the smoke.  The power was tripped and there was no fire.

Do you have a surge protected power extension?

Yes I do.

Was there lightning?

The sky was bright.  Only after the fire incident, raindrops started falling from the sky moaning over the death of my hard disk.

Were you gaming?

Oh please.  I was working from home, nursing my mild flu!

Have you called an electrician to check the power usage?

I took one of my friends’ suggestion and called for our in-house “electrician” or rather our condo’s handy man.  Mind you, he was the one who dug his entire arm into one of our drainage pipes and fished out debris when the pipe was blocked.  A very hands-on man, I must say.  He did some very basic inspection and concluded that since the power was not tripped, the fire incident is an isolated problem.

How many hard disks have you stacked together?

Three in total.  In retrospect, I could have spread the disks further apart.  It is one lesson learned.

How was the airflow inside your computer?

6 fans are still in working condition, including the blue neon light coming from the fans.

What brand is the hard disk?

Western Digital.  Not sure if it has to do with the brand.  If so, I am in deep yogurt because all my hard disks are made by WD.

What have you learned from this incident?

Technology hates me.  Time and time again.