30-40x 2.5" drive bay case?

ok so I have about 4 machines running 2.5" drives... was my test lab... 2x esxi boxes, 1x freenas, 1x windows file server....

I am done with all of that and just want to find a case to put all of my 2.5" drives in. Before anyone says.. 8tb or up drives are cheap, go that route... I have all SSD and want to make a very large SSD pool (using stablebit drive pool)

I see 24x 3.5" drive cage cases that are server depth, etc...

I am looking for a larger 30-40 bay but only 2.5" and not a full server case....
I bought a 6x2.5" bay kit on amazon, bought 2 of them and really like them...

should I just go that route? buy 4 more @ $60 each and add them?

essentially I would be moving all of my hba cards, cables, 2.5" drives to one machine... totally doable but figured if there is a case out there, would go that route..

thx...

current file server has 12x 2.5 ssd (12x500gb) drives and 7x 3.5" sata (3x4tb, 4x2tb)
I have 11x 500gb ssd to add to this one s0
12+7+11 = 30 bays...

 

Do not go the expansion kit route - think of the cable management.
Just get 2 of these and call it a day. They have some broken latches and you would need to buy trays separately. But it would still be a better deal.

Spoiler

this is one shallow disk shelf

 

thx... that is a new route for me.
ill need cages to go with those that fit 2.5" drives...
an external hba? and cables...

could you throw a full quick shopping list of what all id need as I have never set one of them up?
appreciate it..
thx

 

I'd suggest a netapp ds2246 instead, can get with the trays for ~110.
Need a SFF-8088->qsfp cable (or two) to get from a normal SAS external HBA to the netapp.
Hell, can get with 24x 600gb drives for $250
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NetApp-DS2246-w-24x-600GB-10K-X422A-R5-Hard-Drives-2x-IOM6-Controllers/192873205105
Netapp DS2246 Storage Expansion Array 24 Bay 2.5" SAS Trays 2x IOM6 Controllers | eBay
These are pure JBOD shelves, so can use with raid or jbod/it mode HBA.

 

Dell H200e HBA (the least expensive option) - $25 (add $2-3 for HH bracket if needed)
2x SFF-8088 to SFF-8088 mini SAS cable - $10 ea

The trays are the tricky and the most expensive part. There are multiple ways of doing this.

You could buy the enclosure with drives included. For about $400 shipped for the enclosure with 25x 600Gb 10K drives. Dump the drives back on ebay at $10ea + shipping - you get the enclosure with trays for $150.

You could try finding a good deal for the drives with trays. A couple of times I was able to buy the 600Gb drives with trays at $10ea, Then I sold the drives on Craigslist for the same $10 but kept the trays.

Or you could buy the trays separately. Aim for under $5ea. Look for big lots and negotiate.
The enclosure I linked is EMC SAE, part of EMC VNX series, so you need "EMC VNX", not "EMC VMAX" compatible trays. They may look similar but the latter won't fit.
This is how proper trays should look like

Spoiler

This lot has older version but still compatible trays at an ok price. But I would prefer newer ones with plastic frame instead. Your best bet is to find a vendor with large number of units and negotiate the price down for the quantity you need.


@gregsachs
NetApp is cheaper but much deeper enclosure. I suggested the EMC SAE just because of its smaller size.

 

Didn't realize those were only 13" depth, pretty cool! The 15x3.5 unit is only 14", too! (that has been a regular question these parts).

 

What is the noise level of EMC SAE disk trays?

 

Just shy of jet engines 60+db for both, I know the netapp uses dual ~57db blower fans for each controller (so 4 total), the EMC is likely a little less but it still looks like the smaller 60 or 80mm modules that run at high rpm when full blast.

 

The netapp shelf will quickly ramp down to well below 57db. It is loud when first powered on , but once it starts up it is noticeably quieter than my Supermicro 836 chassis.

 

I do not have any at the moment. But my recollection is that it was not that bad. As in being able to work in the same room (~10ft away) for hours and not getting annoyed with the noise.

Maybe during power-up. It was quieter than that during normal operation.


Overall my experience with EMC enclosures was pretty positive. I always thought they were less loud than comparable enclosures from other vendors. Also they supported thermal threshold settings via SES2 (I don't think they persisted over reboots though).

 

hmm thx all.. I was on vacation so much to still look at..

while I like these (especially 24x600gb in 1 package)...

I am trying to stay away from rack mount sized equipment... currently my lab is VERY quiet... and now my loudest piece is my old gaming rig that im using as a file server. that is the one in the pic that im looking at replacing with something small with lots of space...

I still like just full tower cases and I was thinking of going this route...
Deep Silence 5 full tower case for 11 3.5" drives, moving my 2x 6-2.5 over and buying 2 more...
so
24x 2.5" drives (17x 500gb ssd)
11x 3.5" drives (I have 3x 4tb, 8x2tb sata)

im looking for as quiet as I can get... but best storage... don't care about raid level, etc...
im using stablebit drivepool and it works great for me.
in my ssd pool I am getting 1.03gb/s transfer rate
I did test freenas and wow.. doing mirrored vdevs I get 1.9gb/s!!!!!

 

my intuition says: stay away from any netapp-device, because netapp has very strong vendor lock-in.
and qsfp -> sff cables aren't cheap. maybe around 80-100 euro for 1m cable.

if you go to ""6x2.5" bay kit"" i would suggest to get 8x2.5 bay kits with sff-8087 or with sff-8643 ports, because of cable managment.

adding 9 of those 8x2.5 kits, you get place for 9* 8ssd = 72 ssd. per kit you need 2 sff cables for 8x2.5 kit. so you need in totaal (9kits * 2cables) 18 cables or 18 hba ports.

some suggestion, look at here

ToughArmor Series_2.5" HDD/SSD CAGES_ICY DOCK manufacturer Removable enclosure, Screwless hard drive enclosure, SAS SATA Mobile Rack, DVR Surveillance Recording, Video Audio Editing, SATA portable hard drive enclosure

 

your intuition is wrong. Only drives and head units are locked. There are no locks in the JBOD enclosures themselves and that's the only part we were suggesting to use. Also instead of QSFP (SFF-8436) to Mini SAS (SFF-8088) cables you can just replace the NetApp's IOM3/6 modules with a compatible controller with SFF-8088 ports for like $20.

but @TeleFragger said that he is not interested anyway. Let him learn the hard way.
I agree that cages with SAS backplanes like ToughArmor MB998IP-B seem to be the best alternative solution. If you want to pay $190 for every 8 drive bays. And then you are still going to need an expander or multiple controllers to feed them.

 

He could save a bit by going with something like the MB516sp-B since it gets him 16 drives in a shot ICY DOCK ToughArmor MB516SP-B Rugged Full Metal 16 Bay 2.5" SAS/SATA SSD/HDD Backplane Cage for 2x External 5.25" Bay - Newegg.com

 

lots for me to think about.. appreciate it all...

 

well im learning the hard way...
all complete up and running...

update to my setup...

Case: Corsair 750D with 6x3 bay cages

OS: Server 2019 Standard (Essentials role is gone.. im sad)

CPU: Intel i5-6600k

MoBo: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI

RAM: 4x8gb ddr4

GFX: Onboard Intel HD 530

PSU: Corsair HX 620W

OS Drive: 128GB SSD, Samsung

Storage Controllers: Dell 5100 8i HBA / H220 36i HBA

Hot Swap Cages: ICY DOCK 6 x 2.5" SATA /SAS HDD/SSD Hot Swap x 3

Storage Pool1: SSD

Storage Pool2: Sata with 500GB SSD 256gb NVME Cache

So...

• 15x 2tb SATA
  
• 3x 4tb SATA
  
• 256gb NVME Cache
  
• 1x 120gb Samsung SSD - OS
  
• 21x 500gb ssd

all quiet, compact, 10gb network.....

Corsair 750d with 6x3 bay cages by Jeffrey Riggs, on Flickr

Icy Dock 3x - 6x2.5" hot swap by Jeffrey Riggs, on Flickr

SSD Pool by Jeffrey Riggs, on Flickr

SATA Pool - NVME Cache by Jeffrey Riggs, on Flickr

 

fwiw... this setup works for me as I get these drives for free... I can simply just add them in..
now that I am full of drives.. and my setup is how I want it...

all I have to do is click on remove for the smallest drive whether it is ssd or sata… and wait for it do dedupe files off...
then pull and put a new bigger drive in... add to pool and walk away...

I have been helping friends.. you know you help one person... then they tell someone and then they need help.. etc...
3x 4tb drives... helped a but put 3x 8tb drives in.. and he didn't want the old ones...

same goes for everyone else.. ive upgraded a ton of machines from 128gb ssd/256gb ssd/500gb ssd (where I got most) to 1-2tb drives... even the nvme.. its small at 256gb but he had no need and my mobo had a slot... hah...

best part is that everyone didn't realize how easy it was.. I just used a apricorn usb adapter with their ez clone software... choose source, destination and go.. then power down, switch drives and DONE!!!!

ive got a huge stack of 180 gb intel ssd (they are garbage)… and 500gb/1tb sata drives.. no need for them..

 

hey 180gb intel drives aren't garbage!

on a more serious question how did you setup your NVME cache in my experience storage spaces requires 2 drives to do a cache on a mirrored pool for "storage spaces tiering" did this change in 2019 or did you do something more exotic?

 

as ive mentioned before.. using StableBit Drive Pool... and they added a plugin for SSD Optimizer which works with NVME...

im running as setup that isn't a true raid... running on windows... if system dies I can pull drives out and recover all of my files..

it is more of a "File" level raid vs a typical stripe set or mirror raid.. it creates a hidden folder on the drive, then copies around there...

you can even shuffle drives around in different bays, and it figures it out and doesn't care...

 

sorry came back to this after over a month and didn't scroll all the way up for the full details, my mistake there. How's the performance on it?