Upon further examination it looks like the connector may have wiggled loose.
Why, because the gold connector pads on the HDD were melted off only
near the edge of the connector. Little damage to the PWB of the HDD. I
see no damage to the gold from that damaged area into the HDD.

A short occurred between the 12v Yellow and GND Black power feed.
The connector evaporated there (ash and chunks all over) and the wires
evaporated back from where the connector was by over an inch. Yes, over
an inch of yellow and black (adjacent) wire evaporated. Must have been
exciting to see the arc.

So probably the arc started, the connector evaporated and came off the
HDD, the arc continued and ate the wires until the PS gave its all then
had enough.

So the smoke was a combination of gold, connector plastic, copper PWB
trace, copper wire, vinyl wire covering and whatever else was in the mix.
Thankfully I did not get to breath much since the whole house fan and
computer room fan were immediately turned on and evacuated the
"computer" room quickly.

Got a new PS and HDD ready to install.
Will take baby steps putting it all together.
The new EVGA PS is much higher efficiency than the last.
The new HDD is a WD "Black".


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