EVGA PSU Toasts 22TB of Customer Storage After RMA Mix Up

It seems that redditor u/sgircys is having a bad month, as not only did they have a problem with their EVGA power supply, a rare occurrence from my own experience as those things are pretty robust, but now they’ve lost 22TB of SATA hard drives… So how did this happen?

It’s a simple story really, they sent the PSU back to EVGA using their RMA process for faulty items. The unit was exhibiting a coil whine issue with the EVGA GQ 1000W Gold Power Supply. They contacted EVGA and sent the unit (at their own expense) to EVGA to get is repaired or replaced. However, this is the kicker, EVGA typically tells you to keep all cables and accessories, which the redditor did, and it’s pretty standard practice in the industry.

EVGA then shipped the user a new unit back rather than repairing the one they sent back, again, pretty standard stuff, no issue. However, upon receiving the new PSU, u/sgircys powered up his new PSU and heard a loud click, the sort you would hear when the OCP triggers and shuts down the PSU. After some trial and error, it was discovered that while the PC would boot, all of the SATA-powered devices would not.

UPDATE – EGVA power supply pin layout change – featuring fried hard drives.
byu/sgircys inDataHoarder

Reaching out to EVGA, a representative at EVGA informed them that “at some point, the pin layout of these power supplies was changed.” That’s fine, and had the new PSU come with a set of new cables that deal with the revised pin layout, everything would golden. Instead, he used the cables he was told to keep, thus sending 12v power down a completely different cable, and it roasted 22TB of storage.

Contacting EVGA again, he reported that EVGA did not want to replace his storage devices, “I’ve never encountered a warranty that offers to cover loss of data or the costs related to the recovery of data and to the letter of our warranty terms, we technically don’t cover any loss or damages incurred by our products either.”

EGVA power supply pin layout change – featuring fried hard drives. Beware when warrantying a PSU.
byu/sgircys inDataHoarder

It’s an honest mistake to ship a revised and newer unit out to the customer and not realise his cables were the old model. However, it seems pretty clear that it was EVGAs fault, so them not stepping up on this one to offer some resolution is a bit rubbish, and hopefully, u/sgircys can turn this one around.