Highest 3.5" disk density without going rackmount

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chinesestunna

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Jan 23, 2015
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Been a while since I've been planning builds and what not and I have to say some of the designs from the past few years has been very impressive and exciting. It seems like the home NAS market is really taking off and there's a variety of chassis that caters to different needs.

I recently discovered the Fractal Design Node 804 which fits 10 3.5" drives in 2 cooled drive cages and 2 on bottom along with 2 more slots for 2.5" drives all within a MATX form factor, the layout seems very well thought out and density is really good compared to what I've seen in the past.

Question for all the experts here, are there other chassis that offer more drive capacity while staying within a reasonable mid-tower or smaller overall size? I know there's easily 24-60 drive options in a 4U form factor but really I'm looking for something 16-20 drives and ideally a cube/tower as I don't have a rack. Also without resorting to 5.25 -> 3.5 bay adapters which I'm currently running.
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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Another idea is that you can turn something like a Silverstone DS380 into a DAS enclosure and get 8x 3.5" drives and at least 4x (non hot swap) 2.5" drives in there. It would not be hard to use these as storage blocks and add as necessary.
 

NetWise

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Jun 29, 2012
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Edmonton, AB, Canada
I know you said no bay adapters, but I used a Cooler Master Stacker (cm810?) full tower with 12x5.25 bays and 4x 5into3 adapters to get me 20 drives in one machine. I'm curious what you find as well.
 

chinesestunna

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Jan 23, 2015
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I know you said no bay adapters, but I used a Cooler Master Stacker (cm810?) full tower with 12x5.25 bays and 4x 5into3 adapters to get me 20 drives in one machine. I'm curious what you find as well.
That's kind of my current arrangement as well, those 5in3 adapters are just so loud with the stock fans. I know they're intended for server environments so noise isn't on top of design priorities.

The reason I posed this question is also around space efficiency, while I know of plenty of ways to cram more drives into desktop cases, but the amount of empty unused space in most of those cases is also very high. The Node 804 got my interest because they really try to minimize wasted space, I know this isn't ideal for cooling, but in terms of a NAS setup this isn't as big of a concern.

Check out this home fabbed unit from 2010: Monster DIY NAS ‘Black Dwarf’ Build Documented on Video | eHomeUpgrade
This is along the lines I'm thinking about, almost like a JBOD tower/box that allows for ITX or maybe MATX + PSU
 

NetWise

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Jun 29, 2012
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Edmonton, AB, Canada
I'm certainly no expert on this, I just find this thread interesting :)

I suspect the issue is that the target market for > 8-12 bays in a case this small, is very small, so likely is so fringe, you won't find it. The DS380 turned into a JBOD connected to another one would be a good way to get 16 drives, if you can live with ITX boards. Your Node 804 looks like a really nice case, that could do the same thing. Wider, so the second unit would have some empty space, but can support MicroATX, so you get a much wider array of boards you can put in it - largely extra slots so you can put an external connector RAID card.

You can also change out the fans on the 5into3's - I did that, made a WORLD of difference.
 

chinesestunna

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Jan 23, 2015
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I'm certainly no expert on this, I just find this thread interesting :)

I suspect the issue is that the target market for > 8-12 bays in a case this small, is very small, so likely is so fringe, you won't find it. The DS380 turned into a JBOD connected to another one would be a good way to get 16 drives, if you can live with ITX boards. Your Node 804 looks like a really nice case, that could do the same thing. Wider, so the second unit would have some empty space, but can support MicroATX, so you get a much wider array of boards you can put in it - largely extra slots so you can put an external connector RAID card.

You can also change out the fans on the 5into3's - I did that, made a WORLD of difference.
That's what my research seems to indicate as well. Basically 2-5 drives are popular for home users, 5-8 is for SOHO/SMB, above 8 and you're talking enterprise so go rackmount.
Funny you mention changing out the fans - I have done the same thing and changed the stock SanAce into Panoflos, that helped a lot like you said, I've now also added an inline resistor plug to both and further dropped the noise levels.
This thread was really just me trying to see if there's anything I'm overlooking and trying to see if there's prefabbed options out there :) Thanks to everyone who chimed in!
 

capn_pineapple

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Aug 28, 2013
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That's what my research seems to indicate as well. Basically 2-5 drives are popular for home users, 5-8 is for SOHO/SMB, above 8 and you're talking enterprise so go rackmount.
Funny you mention changing out the fans - I have done the same thing and changed the stock SanAce into Panoflos, that helped a lot like you said, I've now also added an inline resistor plug to both and further dropped the noise levels.
Take a look at noctua fans, drives seriously don't need a huge amount of cooling unless you're using 15k rust drives.

As to going above 8 drives, there's still the synology bunch of nas's with external "extender" modules. But for home use, you're probably better just grabbing a Norco.

I know for one of my mates HTPC I put together a Silverstone GD08 (3.5" x8, 2.5” x2, 5.25" x2) It's not hotswap, and there's not a huge amount of customisable space in there, but it's a well designed case, with a good layout... You could probably put in a 5/3 drive bay internally too.
 

Patriot

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Apr 18, 2011
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I have some 4hdd/3 5.25" bay cages...
They came from my Xigmatek Elysium, take 120mm fans and are as quiet as the fans you connect.
XIGMATEK - PRODUCT

I kinda have a RX360 radiator shove in the front bays so they are expelled ... ;)
 

TuxDude

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Sep 17, 2011
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Wouldn't you need two ATX PSUs to power 20x drives?
Nope, I had 22 in my Norco 4220 (20 hotswap bays + 2 internal mirrored boot drives) with a standard ATX PSU, I believe it was a 650Wish, though you can get them into the kW range if you need to. Gaming systems with multiple GPUs under load draw far more power than just a bunch of drives. (hey, I used JBOD in a sentence.)
 

chinesestunna

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Jan 23, 2015
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I'm actually looking into this as well and have found some very nice Lian Li cases

PC-D8000 is one that I like. I've had one of these style of chassis before, was interesting to say the least.
PC-V2120X is another interesting one.
My current case is a Lian Li v2000 with 2x supermicro 5in3 bays son in theory can mount up to 22 3.5 drives. Ive looked at the D8000 as well but man that's a beast of a case size wise :)
@Spotswood that render is exactly along my lines of thinking, Node 804 style but even more optimized for drives.
Found this little unit tonight:Industrial Chassis | iStarUSA Products | S-919 - Build-to-Order - Compact Stylish 9x 5.25" Bay microATX Tower
With a 5to3 conversion ratio one can fit 15 drives into essentially MATX size, pretty nice IMO.
Its pricey for what it is though, even the S917 which is 7 5.25" vs 9 goes for $180 on Newegg
 

chinesestunna

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Jan 23, 2015
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I have some 4hdd/3 5.25" bay cages...
They came from my Xigmatek Elysium, take 120mm fans and are as quiet as the fans you connect.
XIGMATEK - PRODUCT

I kinda have a RX360 radiator shove in the front bays so they are expelled ... ;)
I have a couple of these from coolermaster as well, LianLi and Silverstone has some really nice ones as well, they're definitely more quiet but less dense than 5in3 units. I'm actually surprised 5in3s only comes in hotswap cages