I'm thinking about downsizing (in physical size terms) my home storage rig. I'm currently using a 16x hotswap bay 3U Supermicro chassis. It's nice and high-quality and everything, but I'm considering going back to a regular old tower case. I currently have six 3.5" HDDs and one 2.5" SSD. Planning on adding a second 2.5" SSD, but don't anticipate any other upgrades.
Since this is about downsizing, I'm looking for the smallest possible case. But I want to re-use as much stuff as possible, including my Micro-ATX motherboard (Supermicro X9SCL+-F), so the Mini-ITX cases are out.
It should also be relatively cheap.
Some examples that are close but not quite right:
I guess another requirement is that the drives should be reasonably easy to get in and out. Like the Antec 300 (the precursor to the 302), it looks like getting drives in and out could be an exercise in frustration, depending on what else is in the case. It doesn't have to be hotswap, but I shouldn't have to take out other components just to remove a single drive.
Maybe I'm just too picky.
Just looking for suggestions for something I might have missed!
Thanks,
Matt
Since this is about downsizing, I'm looking for the smallest possible case. But I want to re-use as much stuff as possible, including my Micro-ATX motherboard (Supermicro X9SCL+-F), so the Mini-ITX cases are out.
It should also be relatively cheap.
Some examples that are close but not quite right:
- Supermicro CSE-731D-300B - I'm using this for my workstation, and love it. The size is perfect. Unfortunately, it's only built for four 3.5" drives. My storage server doesn't need optical drives, so I could put two 3.5" drives in the 5.25" slots. And maybe I could velcro the SSDs to the bottom of the case. Kind of ghetto, but should work. I wish it had a 120mm fan though, not sure I'm comfortable with a single 90mm fan. (This is the cheapest route, as I also want to physically downsize my workstation, so could recycle this case.)
- Antec 302 - looks good except it's not exactly small.
- Lian Li PC-Q25B - Nearly perfect except Mini-ITX only, so I couldn't use my existing motherboard.
- Fractal Design Arc Mini - Looks good, except maybe "too much" airflow? Not that you can ever have too much airflow, but I'm mainly concerned about dust. Plus I have no experience with Fractal Design cases... I don't need the last word in quality, but I also don't want paper-thin steel.
I guess another requirement is that the drives should be reasonably easy to get in and out. Like the Antec 300 (the precursor to the 302), it looks like getting drives in and out could be an exercise in frustration, depending on what else is in the case. It doesn't have to be hotswap, but I shouldn't have to take out other components just to remove a single drive.
Maybe I'm just too picky.
Just looking for suggestions for something I might have missed!
Thanks,
Matt