My $40 surge protector died and took my backup drive with it

I had a cheap power strip from Target that I thought was surge protected, but it failed during a storm last Tuesday and my external hard drive stopped spinning. Opened it up and saw the MOV was completely fried with no breaker trip, so the surge went straight through to my drive. Has anyone else had luck recovering a drive that got zapped by a cheap protector, or should I just accept the data loss and move on?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverknight2d ago

The "MOV was completely fried" part tells me you probably already know what happened. Those cheap $40 surge protectors are basically just overpriced extension cords with a light that makes you feel safe. The MOV sacrificed itself but couldn't stop the surge fast enough or it was too small to handle the spike. That's the reality with bargain bin protection. For the drive itself, if it's not spinning at all, you can try a data recovery service but they'll charge you more than the drive is worth. If it's making clicking noises, that's a dead head and you're probably out of luck. Next time spend the money on a real surge suppressor from a company like Tripp Lite or APC with a high joule rating and a connected equipment warranty. The $40 loss today was cheap compared to what you might lose tomorrow.

jason732d ago

Hold up, is it really that serious? A $40 surge protector probably saved the rest of the stuff plugged into it, sounds like it did its job.