Doh! We've
all been there and done that :(
I also managed to lean over a powered up CDC Wren-II/HH 5.25in
half-height drive while I was probing the DiscFerret's STEP line with my
scope.
For those of you who have never seen a Wren-II/HH, they have a pair of
small-ish HDA interface PCBs on the back of the 'drive enclosure'. There
are a dozen or so metal pins joining these two boards.
I wear a metal watch.
No points for guessing what happened.
Having worked on stuff with much higher voltages (and currents) than a
small winchester hard drive, I was taught very early on not to wear any
metal jewellery, wristwatch, etc. FWIW, discharging a car bettery through
a metal watch strap is said to be very painful.
SImilarly don't keep anything metal (or heavy) in a shirt pocket or
similar. I is sure to fall out when you lean ovre something, and, if
heave, will find the neck of a CRT or similar, and if metalic will find a
point to short-circuit that will do a lot of damage.
-tony