Recommendation for 'server' case

[UT-Jackal]

I just put together a file server because i was starting to run out of room in my HTPC with all of the hard drives. Can anyone recommend/sell me a cheap tower that has a lot of hard drive space (>6 3.5 bays).


Thanks

 

[Aku12]

price range? do you need them to be hot swap? or just a tower that can hold a bunch of hard drives?

If you just need a bunch of internal hard drives pretty much any case with 4 in 3 brackets ( http://www.sundialmicro.com/cooler_master_4in3_device-stb3t4e3gp_1975_1348.html ).

Me personally I use a rocketfish I got for $80 shipped as my server chasis. Using 8 drives at the moment and plan on buying some of those 4 in 3's if I expand to anymore drives. Putting my total possible capacity to 16 drives. But the same concept could be used on just about any tower case.

Before that I used a cheap 9 external 5 1/2 bay case from newegg that I bought 6ish years ago with a bunch of single 5 1/2 hot swaps I got on ebay for ~$5 bucks each. Worked very well but was extremely loud.

 

[nlancaster]

I am using this case for my HTPC server.
Coolermaster 590

With 2 of these to hold upto 10 hard drives. And I can add a drive to the system without shutting down or opening the system.
Icydock 5-in-3 Sata Enclosure

System specs:
2 x Hauppauge PVR500 Dual analog tuner PCI cards (4 tuners total)
1 x Hauppauge HVR1800 Digital Tuner
2 x IcyDock MB455SPF 5-in-3 Hotswap Bays
2 x 750GB Westernd Digital RE2 - Downloaded media Drives.
2 x 300GB Seagate - TV Recording drives
1 x 500GB Seagate - TV Recording drive
1 x 500GB Seagate - Backup data drive
1 x Lite-On DVD-RW
Athlon X2 4400+ 65w edition - downclocked 10% to 2ghz @ 24c right now.
Asus M2NE Motherboard
Promise 4-port Sata Raid controller
Zalman 9700 CPU fan at lowest fan speed.
2GB Corsair DDR2 800 Ram
600W Coolermaster power supply modded with low noise fan

And if you want to save some money on hard drive units these are really popular from Lian-li. They hold 4 drives in 3 5.25 and have a 120mm fan on them.

Lian Li EX-34NB Expansion Hard Drive Kit

 

[Dangman]

I am using this case for my HTPC server.
Coolermaster 590

With 2 of these to hold upto 10 hard drives. And I can add a drive to the system without shutting down or opening the system.
Icydock 5-in-3 Sata Enclosure

For the same price as the setup above, you could get this server case with 20(!) hotswap bays:
NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case - $290

Then again it is pretty large, not as good looking (to some), and somewhat noisy. But if you want a ton of hot-swap capability for a cheap price, the Norco case is your best bet.

@ UT-Jackal
Please answer Aku12's questions or we cannot help you better.

 

[nlancaster]

For the same price as the setup above, you could get this server case with 20(!) hotswap bays:
NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Case - $290

Then again it is pretty large, not as good looking (to some), and somewhat noisy. But if you want a ton of hot-swap capability for a cheap price, the Norco case is your best bet.

@ UT-Jackal
Please answer Aku12's questions or we cannot help you better.

Only problem with that norco case, To make use of all 20 drives you need on of these Sata Controller and they start at $649. I thought long and hard about that norco case. But it just wasn't cost effective. I am using a $50 sata controller and the onboard connections to drive all 10 drive bays in my HTPC server.

 

[Dangman]

Only problem with that norco case, To make use of all 20 drives you need on of these Sata Controller and they start at $649.

Umm, no you don't. As shown in Ockie's Galaxy 5.25 and Galaxy 6.0 build logs, you can use two of these Supermicro cards to use 16 drives:
SuperMicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz (PCI Compatible) SATA Controller Card - $98

The remaining 4 bays can be used by the mobo's onboard SATA ports. There's also another slot for an OS drive right above the bays. So a mobo with at least 5 SATA ports and two of those Supermicro cards is all that you need to run all 20 + 1 drives in the Norco cost. That's well below $649

 

[Logan321]

Only problem with that norco case, To make use of all 20 drives you need on of these Sata Controller and they start at $649. I thought long and hard about that norco case. But it just wasn't cost effective. I am using a $50 sata controller and the onboard connections to drive all 10 drive bays in my HTPC server.

Not sure that's really a problem though, as you don't HAVE to make use of all 20 drive bays now, and if in the future you need the expansion, you can spring for a SAS raid card and not have to change the case again.

 

[UT-Jackal]

Thanks for all of the recommendations guys.

I WANT the Norco, but realistically, i don't think i'll ever reach over 10 drives. Or rather, i won't be able to afford over 10 drives. But that might not be true seeing as I'm running 5 right now. But then again, soon i hope to drop all of the drives <1tb. Either way, i'm not quite ready to throw down $300 on a rack right now seeing as this is a, 'hey why not' side project. But I will definitely keep the Norco in mind for post-college, when i'm making a decent salary.

I'm trying to get a guy to let go of a pc-73slb for $70 bucks. Seeing as it can hold my 5 drives, it will do for now as far as hard drive space, and then I would either go with one of the hot swaps, or just an expansion mentioned above.

 

[uninja]

I am in the same boat. My HTPC is stuffed in an Antec Veris Fusion inside a TV stand, so I would prefer building a WHS that I could put somewhere near the entertainment center since my router is there, so something like the Norco is out of the question. I need something a little "prettier."

I was looking along the lines of a tower case that is quiet and cools well. The new HAF932 is intriguing. I'll never have need of more than 6-10 hard drives. And hot-swapping probably isn't that important either.