[EGOvoruhk]

Right now I've got 17 HDDs (1 OS, 16 redundant data) in a Rocketfish tower. I'm using the stock HDD racks inside, which give me space for 8 HDDs. And I've got 3 Lian Li EX-23s in the 5.25" bays for another 9 HDDs

I'm thinking about adding some more drives, but now I'm all out of space. So I'm looking for some suggestions on cases. I don't really have any requirements, though I would like the costs to be low. That's why I went with the cheap Rocketfish case and $20 Lian Li adapters over some $200 12 5.25" bay case and 4 $150 5 in 3 hot swappable adapters

Thanks in advance

 

[compuman145]

This may sound like a terrible idea. Have you considered building one from a draw or something.

Take something like a file cabinet draw and then put mounting blocks out of wood or something (plastic might be better), throw in a few fans and a PSU and you're good to go. Its like a days work at most and will probably not cost more than $50 for the plastic being cut to size.

 

[Manyak]

I'm coming close to your setup - I have 11 HDDs so far, but I'm expanding very soon. I've only found two options that are reasonably priced.

1: The Original CM Stacker. If you remove the front I/O panel there are a total of 12 5.25" bays. You can get 3 more HDD cages to give you a total of 16 mounted drives, or you can get four of these to allow it to hold 20 drives.

2: Go with a rackmount case. This one gives you 20 hotswap bays right off the bat, and they even support SAS if you care for it.

Doing 16 drives in the CM case is the cheapest, but getting 20 in either is about the same price. If you can do a bit of modding then I suggest going with the CM case, because there is space behind the 5.25" bays for a second set of bays (so you put 32 drives in), you just have to find a way to mount them.

 

[NITRO1250]

I own the CM Stacker 810 and if you get 3 racks (4 drives each), you can indeed get 12 drives in the machine if you remove the front power switch block.

 

[Manyak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NITRO1250 I own the CM Stacker 810 and if you get 3 racks (4 drives each), you can indeed get 12 drives in the machine if you remove the front power switch block.

16 drives, not 12.

Edit: The Stacker STC-T01 is also the same case by the way, except it can hold two PSUs and has only one rear fan instead.

 

[EGOvoruhk]

Bump

Looking for some more recommendations. Right now, I think I'm going to go with the Lian Li PC-343B. It's the biggest non-server case I can find. I can cram 30 drives into the main bays, as well as 3 more with a Lian Li adapter. I'm slowly buying more drives and adapters, so I figure why not go big

Anyone have any experience with that case, or have any similar suggestions?

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EGOvoruhk Bump Looking for some more recommendations. Right now, I think I'm going to go with the Lian Li PC-343B. It's the biggest non-server case I can find. I can cram 30 drives into the main bays, as well as 3 more with a Lian Li adapter. I'm slowly buying more drives and adapters, so I figure why not go big Anyone have any experience with that case, or have any similar suggestions?

You don't want a server case?

 

[SalisburySteak]

how can people use so much storage???! Is each drive 5gb each?

 

[EGOvoruhk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo You don't want a server case?

Not unless it looks good standing on its own. I don't want to build a rack...yet

Quote:

Originally Posted by SalisburySteak how can people use so much storage???! Is each drive 5gb each?

Each drive is 1.5TB, but going forward, they will start being populated with 2TB drives

Alternatively, I was thinking about building identical systems, and spreading the redundancy across 2 machines, should anything physically happen to one. Anyone know of any super plain 10 or 12 5.25" bay cases?

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EGOvoruhk Each drive is 1.5TB, but going forward, they will start being populated with 2TB drives Alternatively, I was thinking about building identical systems, and spreading the redundancy across 2 machines, should anything physically happen to one. Anyone know of any super plain 10 or 12 5.25" bay cases?

How about the Lian Li PC-V2000 series? It has 10 HDD racks plus seven 5.25" bays.

If you plan to build two systems.... you might want to place one of them in a physically different location.

 

[r31ncarnat3d]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SalisburySteak how can people use so much storage???! Is each drive 5gb each?

Photographers, videographers (is that the right word?), musicians, and people who just edit these media burn through space. Videos especially take up a lot of room. Additionally, many people create redundancies in their storage systems so if one drive fails, they don't lose all their data.

 

[EGOvoruhk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo How about the Lian Li PC-V2000 series?

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I started going the route of the hot swappable backplanes. It's a little pricey, but it's nice not needing to open the case to manage the drives. So I'd like all the bays in the case to be in the front, and 5.25"

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo If you plan to build two systems.... you might want to place one of them in a physically different location.

Oh yeah, definitely. I'd probably set up a weekly backup via the network

The more I think of building two systems, the better it sounds. It could end up cheaper, as I won't have to buy a $350 single case. But more importantly, it'll end up cheaper because I wont always have both systems running