Any good NAS cases with Hotswap?

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nar001

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Jul 23, 2023
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So I've been wanting to replace my (already aging when I got it) DS1010+ syno NAS, with a DIY solution. I've wanted a case that also had hotswap bays for ease of installing drives, and maintenance. Obviously it's a very small niche, so not many options around. Someone is selling a Silverstone DS380B around, but if I understood correctly it only takes mini-ITX motherboards? Considering it has more than 8 Sata bays (internal and external), what motherboard would fit the needs of this case? Finding one that's good and recent seems almost impossible (Tho I'm obviously new at this, too).

Anybody has any ideas? If I could, I would've gotten a U-NAS case, but they seem to be all out of stock (at least the bigger ones) and they haven't answered my email asking for availability. Thanks!
 
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mrpasc

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Jan 8, 2022
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nar001 said:
Someone is selling a Silverstone DS380B around, but if I understood correctly it only takes mini-ITX motherboards? Considering it has more than 8 Sata bays (internal and external), what motherboard would fit the needs of this case?
Click to expand...
The Atom C3758 boards (AsrockRack and Supermicro) are still good NAS boards and fit the bill with their 12 (SM) and 13(AR) onboard SATA ports.

nar001 said:
Anybody has any ideas? If I could, I would've gotten a U-NAS case, but they seem to be all out of stock
Click to expand...
Are you looking for more desktop ones or after 19“ rack chassis?
Ali has some ITX and even some mATX NAS chassis. The search engine there is crappie but here some ideas:


Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out! 108,00€ 21％ Off | Nas Series 8-bay Mini Server Hot Plug Chassis Network Data Storage Industrial Control Equipment



Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out! 68,03€ 5％ Off | NAS chassis, 6-disk, black Qunhui 1.2 steel plate aluminum alloy panel hot swappable position storage chassis storage chassis
 
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nar001

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Jul 23, 2023
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mrpasc said:
The Atom C3758 boards (AsrockRack and Supermicro) are still good NAS boards and fit the bill with their 12 (SM) and 13(AR) onboard SATA ports.


Are you looking for more desktop ones or after 19“ rack chassis?
Ali has some ITX and even some mATX NAS chassis. The search engine there is crappie but here some ideas:


Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out! 108,00€ 21％ Off | Nas Series 8-bay Mini Server Hot Plug Chassis Network Data Storage Industrial Control Equipment



Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out! 68,03€ 5％ Off | NAS chassis, 6-disk, black Qunhui 1.2 steel plate aluminum alloy panel hot swappable position storage chassis storage chassis
Click to expand...
Thanks! Honestly I'm looking for either, but it seems to have any actual good deals/ease of install I should look at mATX? The UNAS cases apparently also take mATX but again always out of stock.

Thanks for the suggestions too! They look nice, but Ali seems to really just make shipping prices skyrocket for some reason (I'm in europe), the shipping is more expensive than the price of the case! I know people have been using the Node cases too, but I guess I still hoped I could find a hotswap case around, tho with how it's going it almost seems like it's just so much easier to get. I did see some Jonsbo cases around, I haven't heard of them much tho.
 
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i386

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Mar 18, 2016
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nar001 said:
I've wanted a case that also had hotswap bays for ease of installing drives, and maintenance.
Click to expand...
One user who build a small nas with one of these cases posted a follow up after a few years of usage with the conclusion that the small cases are a pain in the ass for maintaining/replacing parts and instead would use a bigger chassis for a nas.
(I'm looking for the thread but can't find it right now)
 
R

RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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Sorry this came out a little unstructured...
So here are a few comments.

Given that you specifically mentioned the ds380b, I assume you need/want 8 bays or more.

But on the off chance that 4 is fine, you could probably get a U-NAS case by buying a 2nd hand Datto appliance from eBay, like this one (even comes with a mobo apparently):
www.ebay.com

DATTO NAS S3B1000 NETWORK 4 BAY STORAGE NO HARD DRIVES | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for DATTO NAS S3B1000 NETWORK 4 BAY STORAGE NO HARD DRIVES at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

Silverstone makes other cases that might work for you, like the CS381:

Regarding the ds380b, people would typically install another disk controller to support that many drives if the motherboard did not have enough ports. As far as I remember people were having issues getting a secondary controller to fit (a length issue again afaik) and heat related issues due to airflow. Both issues are solvable, but it might be worth keeping in mind if you are to buy a case like this.

Regarding U-NAS and microatx, not all of their cases support microatx, NSC-800 does not, but NSC-810A does.
 
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nar001

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Jul 23, 2023
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RTM said:
Sorry this came out a little unstructured...
So here are a few comments.

Given that you specifically mentioned the ds380b, I assume you need/want 8 bays or more.

But on the off chance that 4 is fine, you could probably get a U-NAS case by buying a 2nd hand Datto appliance from eBay, like this one (even comes with a mobo apparently):
www.ebay.com

DATTO NAS S3B1000 NETWORK 4 BAY STORAGE NO HARD DRIVES | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for DATTO NAS S3B1000 NETWORK 4 BAY STORAGE NO HARD DRIVES at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

Silverstone makes other cases that might work for you, like the CS381:

Regarding the ds380b, people would typically install another disk controller to support that many drives if the motherboard did not have enough ports. As far as I remember people were having issues getting a secondary controller to fit (a length issue again afaik) and heat related issues due to airflow. Both issues are solvable, but it might be worth keeping in mind if you are to buy a case like this.

Regarding U-NAS and microatx, not all of their cases support microatx, NSC-800 does not, but NSC-810A does.
Click to expand...
I didn't know the 810a was the only one that supported mATX, I hope they'll get them in stock one of these days. I'll check out the Datto case you mentioned, i didn't know they also did white label for other brands, thanks!

I guess from all I'm seeing here I probably should stop looking at mini-ITX cases only then? They really seem like they're more trouble than they're worth even if they're small. That's too bad, I'll keep looking for mATX ones.
 
R

RTM

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2014
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regarding matx vs itx, It's all about which tradeoffs you are willing to make, itx cases are more "nas-like", but matx are in my opinion easier to work with.

Here are a few more options to consider:

Supermicro also makes a 4-bay NAS case, they also offer barebones with a motherboard.

SC721TQ-350B2 | Compact Mini-Tower | Chassis | Products | Supermicro

721TQ-350B2
www.supermicro.com

This case (might also be a reasonable place to buy a motherboard that will fit):

CFI A-7879 V2 Mini-ITX enclosure (4x 3.5" NAS, 1x 2.5", Hot-Plug, 1x PCI, 250W) [ ITX (17x17 cm) ]

www.minipc.de www.minipc.de

HP microservers like the gen 10 plus models, though I am not sure if the external bays support hot swap.
 
zac1

zac1

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Oct 1, 2022
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You can get the Supermicro CSE-721TQ on eBay for around $199 right now. They're solid cases with 4x 3.5" hot swap, 2x 2.5" fixed internal, and room for a low profile PCIe adapter, potentially quad m.2 NVMe on the right board.
 
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reasonsandreasons

reasonsandreasons

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May 16, 2022
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Slightly unconventional suggestion, but I picked up this 8-bay mATX case from Taobao through a shopping agent. I ended up paying $250 or so, shipping to the US included. It has some flaws (steel isn't the thickest thing in the world, I'm not sure if it has true hot swap, and if you want more than 6 drives you have to use a Flex ATX PSU), but I really love the layout and the size. Being able to use your board's full assortment of PCIe slots is super useful--I'm having mine double-up as a gaming PC with a NVidia A2000. Best of all it fits inside an Ikea Kallax shelf, which is great for a small apartment.
 
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SnJ9MX

Active Member
Jul 18, 2019
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RTM said:
Sorry this came out a little unstructured...
So here are a few comments.

Given that you specifically mentioned the ds380b, I assume you need/want 8 bays or more.

But on the off chance that 4 is fine, you could probably get a U-NAS case by buying a 2nd hand Datto appliance from eBay, like this one (even comes with a mobo apparently):
www.ebay.com

DATTO NAS S3B1000 NETWORK 4 BAY STORAGE NO HARD DRIVES | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for DATTO NAS S3B1000 NETWORK 4 BAY STORAGE NO HARD DRIVES at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

Silverstone makes other cases that might work for you, like the CS381:

Regarding the ds380b, people would typically install another disk controller to support that many drives if the motherboard did not have enough ports. As far as I remember people were having issues getting a secondary controller to fit (a length issue again afaik) and heat related issues due to airflow. Both issues are solvable, but it might be worth keeping in mind if you are to buy a case like this.

Regarding U-NAS and microatx, not all of their cases support microatx, NSC-800 does not, but NSC-810A does.
Click to expand...
FYI it is very likely the motherboard in this is a Xeon D with 2x10GbE. I have a former Datto storage appliance (1U version) and it turned out to be a Asrock D1541D4U-2T8R (SAS3008, 2x10GbE, D-1541).
 
M

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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SnJ9MX said:
FYI it is very likely the motherboard in this is a Xeon D with 2x10GbE. I have a former Datto storage appliance (1U version) and it turned out to be a Asrock D1541D4U-2T8R (SAS3008, 2x10GbE, D-1541).
Click to expand...

Seller accepted my BO $118 for the above Datto unit
Indeed, it is Xeon-D with 32gb ram. Unit is very clean. came with all 4 drive trays.
I changed the 120mm fan to a better fan before deploying into service.

thank you
 
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mogman42

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FWIW, I just built two NAS boxes using the following cases and had a good build experience with both.
  • Jonsbo N2 with Aliexpress mITX n6005 board
  • Audheid 8-bay NAS chassis (2023 NEW) from Amazon with mATX Asrock x570 server board
 
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