Advice on new NAS rackmount chassis

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

hlidskialf

Member
Apr 28, 2016
68
26
18
52
Greetings, all. I'm at something of a loss for what to look for here and am soliciting some modern advice. (I keep finding threads about this that are 8+ years old.) After 3 days of googling and 30+ pages on this forum alone, I am asking for some knowledgeable help.

I am currently running an UNRAID server for media storage and general backups. Specs:
Supermicro X9SCL motherboard
Intel Xeon E3-1220
4x 4GB Nanya PC3-12800E (16GB total)
LSI 9201-8i w/ 2x Sata breakout cables
Mellanox Connectx2 10g card
Norco 470 w/ extra 5x3.5 cage.

I only use this for storage, any virtualization happens on my main rig, which is one of the dual 2670 jobs so popular a ways back and what drew me to this community. ;)

Anyways, I'm moving to a new house with a BIG walk-in closet with attic access for my Den, and have gotten permission from the Mrs to actually get a half-rack. To that end I want a new rack-able case. The Norco I currently have qualifies but it is bottom end and literally frustrates me to no end when changing out / adding disks! So what I'd like is a new chassis, that doesn't involve me sliding blocks out to access the drives. In other words, individual drive sleds (I believe is the term) and a backplane. (I have so much hate for knocking sata/power/fan connections loose on other drives whenever I try to upgrade something.) With 16-20 HD slots or so. 4U+ is fine as I have a tall cooler on this MB. And not too much else going into this rack yet. Just a UPS and a Mikrotik CRS326-24G-2S+RM so far. I'd need rails too.

I'm looking at a StarTech 25U Adjustable rack. (And scouring Craigslist for options but nothing for the last 4 months has come up.)

I'm hoping to spend less than $300 and love refurbished stuff. I'm open to spending more if I can justify it, but am also hampered by being Canadian and dealing with the extra costs up here.

Any advice would be welcome.
Cheers.
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
Goto chassis would be an Supermicro 846, ideally with a 846-A backplane to get easier cableing (or expander 846-SAS2-EL1 if you only look towards spinners).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Patrick

EffrafaxOfWug

Radioactive Member
Feb 12, 2015
1,394
511
113
Not sure how the economics work in Canada but over here in rightpondia the (excellent I might add) Supermicro 826/836/846 cases cost an absolute fortune new and they're seldom available s/h. I've found the InWin rackmount stuff to be plenty good enough and I'm using a cheap'n'cheerful rebadged Norco with hot-swap trays for a bulk backup server. Not as nice as the Supermicro, but a quarter of the price.

Bear in mind that your cupboard might need additional ventilation if you're keeping servers on 24/7, and even in a rack in a cupboard noise from some rackmount components might be something you need to be wary of.
 

hlidskialf

Member
Apr 28, 2016
68
26
18
52
Thanks for the replies so far. My current setup has my Norco on a shelf about 8 ft away and there are no noise concerns, so I'm hoping the switch of chassis doesn't make it any worse. The SM cases are dearly expensive and rare in Canada as well, although I'm searching around with my fingers crossed. I'll check out some rebrand options and see what's available.

Totally open to more suggestions too. ;)
 

hlidskialf

Member
Apr 28, 2016
68
26
18
52
Well, I haven't solved my issue and may have exasperated it. Someone on Craigslist was selling Rosewill 4U cases (gutted for mining) for $25 each. I ended up buying 4! Now that I have even explained to the Mrs it was a good deal (these are not the droids you are looking for) I'm wondering if I should save them for something down the road or see if there is some kind of cage/backplane kit that I could cram into one.

Any thoughts
 

hlidskialf

Member
Apr 28, 2016
68
26
18
52
Well, honestly shipping from anywhere is costly! What are you thinking of selling one for? What would shipping to V2V2J2 cost do you figure?

Regardless I appreciate the replies
 

manxam

Active Member
Jul 25, 2015
234
50
28
Thinking $250 CDN each barebones with 2x gold PSU, TQ backplanes, and all trays.
Shipping likely $60-75 CDN

PM me if you're interested!