touching circuitry on hard drive

[wpshooter]

Is there any danger of electrical shock if you touch the exposed circuitry side of a hard drive when it is running and is there any danger of harming the hard drive itself by touching this circuitry when the drive is running ?

Thanks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yes, and yes. Don't do that. You might get lucky, but touching live electronic PCBs is a bad idea in general.

Edit: Not so much that they could shock you, but the +12V power-conversion circuitry on a 3.5" HDD could, in theory, but more than your fingers and body add capacitance to the circuit that you touch, that could cause anything from data-loss to actual circuit damage. (Unlikely, but potentially possible.)

 

[UsandThem]

Yes, and yes. Don't do that. You might get lucky, but touching live electronic PCBs is a bad idea in general.

Ditto on what VL said, but I have to ask why you want to touch exposed electrical components while they are powered on?

Hopefully this isn't the newest "challenge", like the whole Tide Pods thing.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Is there any danger of electrical shock if you touch the exposed circuitry side of a hard drive when it is running and is there any danger of harming the hard drive itself by touching this circuitry when the drive is running ?

Thanks.

For hard drives, you have more chance of damaging the hard drive by static electricity than the hard drive damaging you.

Again, why would you though? Unless like Usandthem says its Tide Pod 2.0.

 

[LTC8K6]

IIRC, there is a conformal coating insulating the board, so you probably wouldn't get shocked, but there's no reason to even think about such behavior.