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Cheap case for massive number of hard drives?

At the sake of being burned alive in flames......

Why not build one? Buy the cheapest full size case, then gut it other than the mobo tray and PSU brace, Google uses velcro to hold drives in place. The eleven hundred is on sale for $75 after rebate and could easily hold 16 drives with some mods done. Or buy a cheap used case for the trays and build the whole thing.
 
Steevo said:
At the sake of being burned alive in flames......

Why not build one? Buy the cheapest full size case, then gut it other than the mobo tray and PSU brace, Google uses velcro to hold drives in place. The eleven hundred is on sale for $75 after rebate and could easily hold 16 drives with some mods done. Or buy a cheap used case for the trays and build the whole thing.
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with building one is that I don't have the tools to do it. Unless it can be done with screwdrivers, a handheld drill, and a few hand saws, it's not practical for me. While I would like to buy a drill press, I live in a condominium and don't have a place to put any large stationary tools. If I was to build a drive cage, drilling all 80 holes in precise positions would be impossible with a hand drill. This is the reason I'm trying to stick to minor modifications or pre-built solutions.

I'm almost at the point to select something; right now I'm checking if there's any files I can delete to prevent me from needing to add new hard drives. Most of the storage is filled with 1080P 30Mb/s source footage from when I do videography, and I'm making sure there are no duplicate recordings.
 
I added one of these to my sniper case. It's cheap and it works great.
 
The Von Matrices said:
The biggest problem with building one is that I don't have the tools to do it. Unless it can be done with screwdrivers, a handheld drill, and a few hand saws, it's not practical for me. While I would like to buy a drill press, I live in a condominium and don't have a place to put any large stationary tools. If I was to build a drive cage, drilling all 80 holes in precise positions would be impossible with a hand drill. This is the reason I'm trying to stick to minor modifications or pre-built solutions.

I'm almost at the point to select something; right now I'm checking if there's any files I can delete to prevent me from needing to add new hard drives. Most of the storage is filled with 1080P 30Mb/s source footage from when I do videography, and I'm making sure there are no duplicate recordings.
Click to expand...


I would then suggest NAS with a case like this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153 Turn the last three on edge in the 5.25 drive bays, you will still have room for your optical drive too.
 
You can buy used server rackmount internal harddrive cages that you can mount into pretty much any case for a couple bucks on ebay. They are made out of very sturdy steel. These can mount easily with zip ties if you really want to do it on the cheap and not drill holes. The other option is using the Silverstone HD Caddy that mounts to a fan/radiator,
This is the model: Silverstone CFP53B 3X Hard drive Cage


Just suggesting this if you are willing to a tiny bit of modding with a case that has less bays.
 
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newtekie1 said:
If astetics aren't an issue, why does it need to be a tower?

$99 buys you a decent rackmount case with 15 3.5" bays. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147164

You can set it up on its side like it is a tower if you want. It even looks like you can remove the flanges and handled if you want, it looks like they are only held on my a few screws.
Click to expand...

So far like newtekie's idea, simple and safe for the drives too, and if OP is still hungry for drives, buy another and stack them up, run cables between cases and you got a stackable heater!

Another idea is to buy larger drives than current capacity and sell old ones to get some cents back!
 
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I want to say thanks to everyone who helped me with this. I eventually chose to go with the Fractal XL with an additional drive cage and a 4 x 2.5" SSD to 5.25" bay adapter. I realized that if I'm going to have up to 16 drives, a RAID 6 is not enough to ensure data security - I needed a RAID 60. Since with RAID 60 you need an even number of HDDs, having a case that supports 15 HDDs is no more useful than one that supports 14 HDDs. The Fractal XL is the only case I could find that would support 16 HDDs + 4 SSDs without jerry-rigging a mount for the 16th HDD, the 4 SSDs, or both.

The extra drive cage (I bought the "top' one) required a bit of modification to get to fit. In the end it didn't matter whether I bought the top or bottom cage since there were no mounting points on the bottom of the case for either one when the other two cages were in place. To mount the extra drive cage, I removed the plastic "feet" from the bottom of the cage, which left four holes in the bottom of the cage. I then fed screws through the holes where the "feet" were and then through the honeycomb fan grille, raising the cage off the bottom of the case using a lot of washers.

In the end I'm happy with the result. It's significantly quieter than the old system due to the sound deadening and quieter standard fans, which is a nice plus. I also as a precaution retired the 10 year old Silverstone power supply for a Seasonic S12G-750, and that's also much quieter than the old supply.

Thanks again everyone!

P10802192.jpg
 
Looks great! :toast:
 
looks great. just wonder, why alot of storage? server?

The Von Matrices said:
I want to say thanks to everyone who helped me with this. I eventually chose to go with the Fractal XL with an additional drive cage and a 4 x 2.5" SSD to 5.25" bay adapter. I realized that if I'm going to have up to 16 drives, a RAID 6 is not enough to ensure data security - I needed a RAID 60. Since with RAID 60 you need an even number of HDDs, having a case that supports 15 HDDs is no more useful than one that supports 14 HDDs. The Fractal XL is the only case I could find that would support 16 HDDs + 4 SSDs without jerry-rigging a mount for the 16th HDD, the 4 SSDs, or both.

The extra drive cage (I bought the "top' one) required a bit of modification to get to fit. In the end it didn't matter whether I bought the top or bottom cage since there were no mounting points on the bottom of the case for either one when the other two cages were in place. To mount the extra drive cage, I removed the plastic "feet" from the bottom of the cage, which left four holes in the bottom of the cage. I then fed screws through the holes where the "feet" were and then through the honeycomb fan grille, raising the cage off the bottom of the case using a lot of washers.

In the end I'm happy with the result. It's significantly quieter than the old system due to the sound deadening and quieter standard fans, which is a nice plus. I also as a precaution retired the 10 year old Silverstone power supply for a Seasonic S12G-750, and that's also much quieter than the old supply.

Thanks again everyone!
Click to expand...
 
That is GREAT! You'll be happy with your Fractal for many years! Very high quality.
 
I know that it is a pretty old thread but what about the HDD temperatures?
Some current or old measurements if you keep or remember would be really nice.

Asking because I have/plan a similar setup and I am also considering the FD (XL) cases.
 
Holy thread necro, @anAngel you really need to check post dates. Pretty sure cases have changed a bit since 2014.
 
Toothless said:
Holy thread necro, @anAngel you really need to check post dates. Pretty sure cases have changed a bit since 2014.
Click to expand...
Not quite.
Define XL R2 is still in production and not discontinued yet.
The thread title and posts does mention only XL as a model but the end picture show XL R2.
And before resurrecting this old thread I checked if the author was still active.

I currently have a pretty good deal for one Define XL R2 and I was curious for the HDD temperatures when fully loaded.
This setup also has a second bottom HDD tray which airflow should be pretty blocked by the first tray.
I am wondering what might be the temp. differences between the 3 HDD trays and if the case is good enough for a storage server at a reasonable/cheap price.
 
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The Von Matrices said:
I want to say thanks to everyone who helped me with this. I eventually chose to go with the Fractal XL with an additional drive cage....
Click to expand...

The Von Matrices, I know I'm posting to an old thread, but I'm thinking of doing a build very similar to yours (using the XL R2), and was wondering where you found the daisy-chained power cables for each 4-drive cage (ie. with the power connectors neatly spaced about ~1 inch apart)? I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find them. Thanks.
 
jsnas said:
The Von Matrices, I know I'm posting to an old thread, but I'm thinking of doing a build very similar to yours (using the XL R2), and was wondering where you found the daisy-chained power cables for each 4-drive cage (ie. with the power connectors neatly spaced about ~1 inch apart)? I've looked everywhere and can't seem to find them. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I used these, although I had to modify them to put the SATA power connectors closer together. The power connectors just clamp onto the cable, so they're easy to remove and clamp in a different place depending on how far apart the hard drives are spaced.

The case now has 16 x 3TB HDDs and 4 x 128GB SSDs. Temperatures are actually very good. The drives in the bays toward the font of the case stay at 28-32°C, while the drives in the inner cages are warmer but still reasonable at 38-43°C The drives nearest the bottom of the case seem to be the hottest, I guess because they get the least airflow

p1090868.jpg
 
The Von Matrices said:
I used these, although I had to modify them to put the SATA power connectors closer together. The power connectors just clamp onto the cable, so they're easy to remove and clamp in a different place depending on how far apart the hard drives are spaced.

The case now has 16 x 3TB HDDs and 4 x 128GB SSDs. Temperatures are actually very good. The drives in the bays toward the font of the case stay at 28-32°C, while the drives in the inner cages are warmer but still reasonable at 38-43°C The drives nearest the bottom of the case seem to be the hottest, I guess because they get the least airflow
Click to expand...

Thanks! Those power connectors look great. And the drive temps seem very reasonable, especially given the fact that it's a very quiet chassis (unlike most rackmount options that can hold that many drives).

While we're on the topic, what brand of the blue SATA data cables did you use? Also, I was wondering if you thought about routing the blue SATA data cables thru the back side of the chassis (like the drive power cables)?
 
That should be just enough storage for this year's COD and Modern Warfare 2 Remastered bundle :-P
 
jsnas said:
Thanks! Those power connectors look great. And the drive temps seem very reasonable, especially given the fact that it's a very quiet chassis (unlike most rackmount options that can hold that many drives).

While we're on the topic, what brand of the blue SATA data cables did you use? Also, I was wondering if you thought about routing the blue SATA data cables thru the back side of the chassis (like the drive power cables)?
Click to expand...

I just bought generic SATA to SFF-8087 cables through eBay. The reason they are routed in the front is because the ones I purchased aren't long enough to go through the back. I believe the ones I am using are 0.5m and 0.75m. The other problem with my configuration is that my SAS expander has its ports on the "front" edge of the card, so the cables need to be even longer to get to the back of the case. Also keep in mind that the SFF-8087 cables are difficult to bend sharply. I would say that a 30mm bend diameter is the sharpest I could get them to do, so you likely won't be able to bend them to go exactly where you want them.
 
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The Von Matrices said:
I just bought generic SATA to SFF-8087 cables through eBay. The reason they are routed in the front is because the ones I purchased aren't long enough to go through the back. I believe the ones I am using are 0.5m and 0.75m. The other problem with my configuration is that my SAS expander has its ports on the "front" edge of the card, so the cables need to be even longer to get to the back of the case. Also keep in mind that the SFF-8087 cables are difficult to bend sharply. I would say that a 30mm bend diameter is the sharpest I could get them to do, so you likely won't be able to bend them to go exactly where you want them.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the warning about the SFF-8087 cables not bending very much. I just noticed that you attached SATA extender cables to the SFF-8087-to-SATA cables. It looks like you put something on the intermediate connection points to secure the connections. Is that heat-shrink or just black tape?

Also, I'm curious what 4-in-3 5.25" cage you used for the 4 extra 3.5" HDDs? Did you get one with an intake fan on the front? Are the temps any worse on those drives versus in the middle/lower front cages?
 
jsnas said:
Ok, thanks for the warning about the SFF-8087 cables not bending very much. I just noticed that you attached SATA extender cables to the SFF-8087-to-SATA cables. It looks like you put something on the intermediate connection points to secure the connections. Is that heat-shrink or just black tape?

Also, I'm curious what 4-in-3 5.25" cage you used for the 4 extra 3.5" HDDs? Did you get one with an intake fan on the front? Are the temps any worse on those drives versus in the middle/lower front cages?
Click to expand...
There are no SATA extender cables used. The mesh sleeving on the SFF-8087 cables is only about half the length of the cables, and you are looking at the heat shrink securing the ends of the sleeving. They were sleeved that way when I purchased them.

I used this HDD cage. The temperatures of the HDDs in that cage are about the same as the ones built into the case, but that is by my design. I modified the fan in the cage to run on 5V. At 12V that fan was by far the loudest thing in the case, and the cooling from the lower speed fan is more than enough for those drives. I imagine you would want to run it at 12V only if you needed the airflow for something else in the case, but that wasn't my situation.
 
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