Microserver N54L running out of space - what now?

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Leo Levosky

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May 17, 2017
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I tried to build a new server a while ago but gave up as I couldn't seem to find the right thing. So I installed TrueNAS on my old HP N54L microserver with 5 4TB drives. That has been a good stop gap but now I am running out of space.

There used to be loads of great tower cases from Lian Li and Caselabs. Now every thing seems to be for gamers or rack mount. Neither is of interest to me. There also used to be loads of hot swap/backplane caddies that installed in 5.25" bays. Now there seem to few of those around and those that exist seem to get bad reviews.

The goal is to have a tower with at least 8 drives of larger size. I love TrueNAS and would love to stick with it but I also want to run a Satellite TV card (with TVheadend?) and Jellyfin.

Any suggestions?
 
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Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Leo Levosky said:
great tower cases from Lian Li
Click to expand...
I do not know where are you located.

I am in SF bayarea, CA.
There are still lots of old school tower case available in my local Craigslist .
Especially at this time, sellers just want the old school tower case gone from their garage.

Last month, I picked 2 Lian Li V1000 case , tons of HD drives spaces. 1 silver one for $30, 1 black case for $40
Past 3 months, picked up 2 Antec 900 case ( it holds 3 x 4or5 HDD cages) , 1 for $30 ,1 for $40.
1 Lian Li case that holds 8 drives with a 1000w Evga PS for $80
Last year, 2 Fractal Design R5 case , 1 for $40 , 1 for $50 .

I am sucker for old school top to bottom HD case.

Then I add few 4 x 3.5 or 5 x 3.5 HD hot swap cage. I really like the cages with 120mm fan. very quiet
I love the old case

I really like Gigabyte C246 ATX board, 10 sata ports, save power by not using HBA cards.
Now I start buying Gigabyte W480 boards, with 10 sata ports, 2.5 GBE network, 2 x m2 SSD.
 
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RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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Silverstone also makes some cases that could be usable:

SilverStone - Computer Chassis

www.silverstonetek.com www.silverstonetek.com

I am thinking the CS380 or CS381 could be good reasonable choices, though the reviews (on newegg for the CS380 at least are not that great)

Other than that, perhaps this case might be a good choice?
www.newegg.com

Intel P4000M Family 4U Pedestal/Rackmount Server Chassis with 8x 3.5" Hot Swap Drive Bays - P4308XXMHGC - Newegg.com

Buy Intel P4000M Family 4U Pedestal/Rackmount Server Chassis with 8x 3.5" Hot Swap Drive Bays - P4308XXMHGC with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!
www.newegg.com www.newegg.com
It has a thread in the great deals section too:
 
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Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Leo Levosky said:
I' like to get the Lian Li PC-A17 Black Aluminium Mid Tower Case version of that case. Been looking for a while. Anyone know where to find one in the UK?
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Ebay may be.
PC-A17 looks wonderful, it is a unicorn now.

I obsess with Lian Li case, must have over 50 Lian Li case in my garage.
I couldn't stop buying it when the price is right.
May be because 10-20 years ago, I could not afford such high price case.

Couple of months ago.
Ebay had a PC-A77 case for $110 BIN shipped.
I paid for the case, after 2 weeks, the seller cancel my BIN.
Very disappointed.

Take a look at PC-A75, 12 drives bay.
 
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Leo Levosky

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May 17, 2017
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Marsh said:
Take a look at PC-A75, 12 drives bay.
Click to expand...
I think the PC-A75 is just a bigger version of the PC-A17. I also love the old Lian Li cases and can't understand why they don't still make them. I wish I had bought a few PC-A17 when they were available. I was also trying to buy some Caselabs cases when they went bust apparently due to Trumps import tarrifs on aluminium.

I see loads of people looking for NAS cases and they all say nothing suitablle is available. The PC-A17 was perfect. Lian Li don't seem to get it. All the manufacturers seem to think only gaming stuff sells.
 
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i386

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ari2asem

ari2asem

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Dec 26, 2018
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if you go with silverstone ds380, try to find cases with 2000 micro-farad capacitors. this is the 1st version of ds380.

later they changed capacitors to 1000 micro-farad without any announcement.

so, watch out for these
 
R

RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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ari2asem said:
if you go with silverstone ds380, try to find cases with 2000 micro-farad capacitors. this is the 1st version of ds380.

later they changed capacitors to 1000 micro-farad without any announcement.

so, watch out for these
Click to expand...
Is that also true for the CS380/CS381 cases I mentioned earlier?
 
ari2asem

ari2asem

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Dec 26, 2018
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i have cs381. i can check it in 2 days. thuesday you will know what kind of capacitors cs381 uses

UPDATE....the backplane of cs381 doesn't have capacitors at all
 
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