How to tell if power supply or HDD is bad.

[jim785887]

My Western Digital 1 TB HDD quit spinning.  I think it maybe the power supply went out.  The fan in the power supply quit a couple of days before the HDD quit.   My roommate has a HP 8000 Elite CMT PC.   .  Can I unhook my roommates HDD and then use his data and power cables to hook my HDD up and see if it will boot his PC?   If my HDD does boot his PC up won't that mean the power supply needs to be replaced on my desktop?   Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.  It is much appreciated.   Thanks again Jim Forrest

[old_geekster · Accepted solution]

@jim785887 , welcome to the forum.

I believe that the problem may be your power supply unit (PSU).  The PSU can affect the HDD, but not the other way around.  If the HDD is not getting enough power it won't run.   The PSU can cause symptoms that are not always what we will expect, such as, freezing, automatic reboots, etc.

Yes, you can connect your HDD to your roommate's computer to see if it will boot.  It appears from the specifications for both computers that most of the HDD's are compatible with both computers.  If it works, this is proof that your PSU has failed.

I would appreciate hearing the results of your test.