That would actually be extremely unlikely. Frying the interface is easy.
Just put overvoltage into it. Causing defect sectors is hard.
We just stopped experimenting once we'd got as far as "plug a drive
into this channel" = "****ed drive", then solved the problem by not doing
that. The cost of shoving another mo-bo in form the stripper pile was less
than the hassle of trying to figure out the problem any further.
If I recall, the situation was that we were trying to get a roomful
of working computers ready for a client's training course tomorrow, which
my mate's boss had only told him (the mate) about at 4pm on the day before.
Nice boss, long since sacked. What did I get out of the job? A 6-pack of
beer, a pizza and about 10kg of reference books that client left behind in
the classroom. And a couple of the hard drives that hadn't got ****ed.
All of which reminiscing reminds me to get on with writing the best
man's speech for my mate's wedding.