Dell FS12-NV7 as a JBOD chassis

[batfastad]

Hi everyone

Long-time reader but first-time poster here.

I'm looking to add some more disk to my lab.
My main storage box has an Adaptec ASR-78165 card (the Dell p/n) and I'm already using the internal SFF-8643 ports for 8x internal drives. I also have 8x 2.5" drives connected to the MB SATA sockets.
Because the Adaptec has 4x external SFF-8644 ports that are currently unused, I quite like the idea of building an external JBOD chassis. It also means I'm not adding more heat to or changing the power requirement of my current storage box.

I have found a few ATX cases that have a full front panel of 5.25" bays (instead of the plastic + fans that are all over most full-tower cases).
I could either add simple brackets (Buy Products Online from China Wholesalers at Aliexpress.com) or full hot-swap+backplane units (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51YogOMnc-L._SL1024_.jpg) to potentially have 15 drives in a case with 9x 5.25" external bays.
Using SFF-8088 to SFF-8087 brackets such as these https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB15WnkHXXXXXX6XVXXq6xXFXXXr/202163884/HTB15WnkHXXXXXX6XVXXq6xXFXXXr.jpg and SFF-8644 to SFF-8088 cables is lower cost than sticking with Mini SAS HD (SFF-8644) all the way through to the drive.
Then use a JBOD power board like the JBPWR2 (http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/assets/aux_images/A319976_10.jpg) and a regular ATX/Flex ATX PSU.

But maybe I can do better and cheaper than that.

What about picking up a Dell FS12-NV7 (about £80 for the chassis and trays), ripping out all of the internals, the noisy fans and PSU, motherboard etc, and just use it as a dumb backplane/chassis. I'd still have to add a new PSU, a fan or two and possibly a JBOD power board but it would still come in cheaper.
It would probably only support SATA 2 drive speeds but I'm using cheap drives I have lying around anyway, single drive performance isn't my main concern.
It would look a bit better than a cobbled-together box. But would only have 12 drives instead of 15. But would look a bit better than a cobbled-together box

1) Does anyone own or has worked with the FS12-NV7 and can confirm what connections are on the backplane?
I'm assuming its SFF-8484 or something, which I should be able to convert to SFF-8087

2) From the few images I have found of the backplane it looks like there's an ATX power connector.
Could I potentially just attach a Flex ATX PSU to the backplane (after drilling some holes for mounting no doubt) and not need the JBOD power board?

3) Has anyone done anything as stupid as this?
Or should I just stick to plan A and build a box around a normal full-tower chassis?

Any other cheap/hacky chassis suggestions welcome.

Cheers, B

 

[Mishka]

I have seen those about too and was thinking of literally doing the same thing, didn't seem to find any suitable internal pics though as I would be doing same as you ripping out the internals to just make it into a standard thing.

I am guessing you saw the same seller bargainhardware? also just remember it comes with no caddies unless you pay for them too

I have been trying to find a suitable case to do the same for not a huge amount of money myself, seems anything hotswap is crazy money

 

[batfastad]

Ha, yes... bargainhardware and a couple of others on ebay. Found one seller including caddies, CPUs, 16x 1GB RAM and 2x PERC controllers for £105.

I would expect a backplane to have very little logic, mostly just passing through the SAS/SATA and getting drive activity/fail signals (SGPIO?). However... Dell.

The thing I'm looking for really is being able to see drive activity/failure LEDs. I'm not too bothered about hot-swap+caddies as such and would be perfectly happy with the drives stacked in cheap brackets like these https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1.Qeb...AS-HDD-Hard-Drive-Cage-Adapter-Tray-Caddy.jpg if I could somehow display activity LEDs. That's what got me on to thinking about grabbing a cheap backplane+chassis instead.

The ATX case I have for my current storage box is an Aerocool VS-92 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BZNB34S/ so I could just buy another and fill it with disks. Once you get rid of all the plastic around it it's a pretty decent frame/case and has 9x 5.25" bays if you get rid of the top i/o panel.

 

[Mishka]

Yea just found that seller for £105 myself and one for £85 (no caddies) but it has a fairly nice pic of the backplane.

If you dont use the stock PSU you'll need to work out the pin out for the er 14? pin backplane power, Also not sure what kind of connector the backplane has it appears to be a "Wide internal port", my google fu is weak this evening......Sneaky edit appears to be SFF-8484 so only leaves the power to faff with

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/yoAAAOSwHQ9WaFUl/s-l1600.jpg

One thing to bare in mind the backplane may also be doing some kinda multiplier stuff as its obviously 12 bays but only seems to have 2 connectors which are typically 4 drives a piece

 

[frogtech]

Seems like too much work to make something work against the design it was intended for. Since the FS12-Nv7 is a 2U chassis might I suggest looking for a barebones Supermicro 826 (or 816 for 2.5" alternative) and getting a JBOD board for it? This would allow you to use the chassis as a JBOD enclosure.

 

[Mishka]

Seems like too much work to make something work against the design it was intended for. Since the FS12-Nv7 is a 2U chassis might I suggest looking for a barebones Supermicro 826 (or 816 for 2.5" alternative) and getting a JBOD board for it? This would allow you to use the chassis as a JBOD enclosure.

They are about £400+ though, the dell thing with some faff would be £200-250? or so all in and would then still need to get PSu and all the JBOD stuff for the supermicro

 

[batfastad]

Yeah I'm thinking this is too much effort.
ATX case, standard PSU, JBOD power board and I'll try and find a deal on some hot-swap bays at some point.

Are there any other JBOD power boards out there, other than the Supermicro JBPWR2?

 

[frogtech]

Yeah I'm thinking this is too much effort.
ATX case, standard PSU, JBOD power board and I'll try and find a deal on some hot-swap bays at some point.

Are there any other JBOD power boards out there, other than the Supermicro JBPWR2?

There's one that has IPMI, it's more expensive than the JBPWR2 though.

 

[matt52]

Yeah I'm thinking this is too much effort.
ATX case, standard PSU, JBOD power board and I'll try and find a deal on some hot-swap bays at some point.

Look here for some ideas:
Cheapest SAS/SATA disk enclosure