I have a few modular power supplies around from different vendors, and I made the mistake of using one cable in a different vendors supply.
The supply side had the same connections; so I thought that I could just mix-and-match.
Turns out, that even though the connections are standardized, I ended up putting ground on a 5v pin, 12v on the 5v, 3.3v on the 3.3v (magically) and 5v on the 12v pin on a standard SATA connector.
As a result, I fried several hard drives, because the output of the supplies wasn't standardized for the connector type. I can't even imagine an end-user using a volt-meter to check which are compatible with which vendor.
This was a problem before USB-C.
TL;DL: Check your modular supply cables, and don't use other vendors cables.
I have a few modular power supplies around from different vendors, and I made the mistake of using one cable in a different vendors supply.
The supply side had the same connections; so I thought that I could just mix-and-match.
Turns out, that even though the connections are standardized, I ended up putting ground on a 5v pin, 12v on the 5v, 3.3v on the 3.3v (magically) and 5v on the 12v pin on a standard SATA connector.
As a result, I fried several hard drives, because the output of the supplies wasn't standardized for the connector type. I can't even imagine an end-user using a volt-meter to check which are compatible with which vendor.
This was a problem before USB-C.
TL;DL: Check your modular supply cables, and don't use other vendors cables.