My computer used to do this little thing where randonly it would turn off. I did a bunch of stuff (i.e. Reseat the heatsink, Apply new thermal paste, get new ram,etc.) which then lead me and several people across multiple boards to think my power supply was bad or dirty. Over the weekend I pulled the power supply out opened it up and took a qtip and a little air to it (No Water & no moving/removing of any parts). I then put my power supply back in and tried to reconnect everything. Soon I saw that I was either previously over compensating with power connections or did not connect enough but, I checked and double checked and eventually thought it was good enough to turn on. I hit the power button and nothing, It didn't turn on. I tried to connect and reconnect again and suddenly it happened I hit the power but and then I heard a sound like static or electric come from somewhere and the smell of burn or smoke, nothing came on. I Ignored it and hit the power again and suddenly everything came on but the Motherboard didn't post. Now, from what I know it seems that the burn was me frying my hard drives, not sure if anything else was effected. My question is.

1. Can I save my hard drives. I tried freezing them and I got nothing after about 2/3 hours in freezer.
2. Did I fry anything else ?
3. How did I fry the hard drives/ anything else, what did I do wrong, what would have cause this to happen ?
4. Is it safe to just buy new hard drives and start over using parts from my PC or should I just scrap the whole system and start from new.

I just don't want to buy new components and blow them out like I did before

1. No you can't save your hard drives, never heard of it by putting it in the freezer.
2. You could have fried other stuff, usually the motherboard and power supply go as well.
3. It fries for various reasons, a power surge, over heating, dust build up blocks the fan.
4. Buy a surge protector, keep it dust free and make sure the fans are always running.

It sounds like you fried the PC by plugging in something in the wrong place. Are you sure all your connections were right where they were supposed to be ? Also even if the drives don't work the computer should post. Is it making any beeping sounds when you try to start it up ?

You may have been using a cheap quality surge protector which fried your computer. You should buy a better one to prevent that. Also don't plug your computer directly into the wall outlet. Plug both the monitor and cpu into the surge protector and then plug the surge protector into the oultlet. Also, if your surge protector sparks a lot, toss it out and buy a new one.