Hi!

I get the feeling that that is reason enough to turn around and
run the other way, once you see the 'Bestec' name

Their 230/250 watt PC power supply has no overvoltage protection
circuit. If something goes wrong, the motherboard usually gets it. I've
found that nearly everything else (optical drive, hard disk, etc) survives.

The later 300/350 watt supplies are better and do appear to have an OVP
circuit.

I think the often-highly-questionable wiring that some people have in
their homes only serves to accelerate the demise of these supplies. Some
of the wiring messes I have come across while servicing computers are
dangerous. I'm not an electrician, so I can't fix it for someone else,
but I do strongly suggest that they have it fixed ASAP.

Out of the ones I have, some of which run 24/7, I have never lost one.

As to your hard drive, perhaps they had a virus that was resident in the
MBR or a similarly difficult-to-eradicate location? Or perhaps it really
has been damaged and is not reliable.

William