TLDR: If you were building a NAS for 8 HDDs and 1 SSD today, what case would you use?
I’m going to be rebuilding my system soon (currently using an old PowerEdge T610) using one of my other older (R5 1600) systems and I’ve basically hit a road block on picking a case.
I’ve got 8 HDDs that need to fit in the system after it’s rebuilt (plus at least one SSD) so I’m kinda limited in that regard.
The rest of the system is planned out (mostly because I’m reusing old parts) it’s just the case I’m stuck on.
I’m wanting to avoid rack mounting currently mostly due to space (and wanting to keep it under $200)
I was thinking maybe the Fractal Design Define R5, the Fractal Design Node 804, or the Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 but I’m open to suggestions.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters NAS Network-Attached Storage NUC Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers PSU Power Supply Unit RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks for mass storage SATA Serial AT Attachment interface for mass storage SSD Solid State Drive mass storage Unifi Ubiquiti WiFi hardware brand
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I’m using an old HP z420 box. It supports up to 128gigs of ecc ram (which I have), has tons of drive and SATA options.
It could be possible to repurpose the chassis for custom builds too.
Used to have a node 304. Very happy I got a hot swap Roswell 4u case
Fractal Design Define 7
Love fractals build quality
804
I use a fractal design node 304. It’s pretty cool, but has all the limitations and problems you would expect from a case that size.
Jonsbo N3 sounds like a good fit
If only there was an ATX or mATX version
Looks hella nice though
Lenovo thinkcentre m710q 🫡
Highly recommend cases by Fractal.
For self hosting I’d recommend either one of the Meshify 2 or Define 7, depending on local price and your specific needs. I personally went with the Meshify 2 XL and was blown away by the quality of the case. It’s built well and allows for a variety of configurations. It also makes maintenance very easy as the filters and side panels can all be removed without any tool to handle dust build up.
+1 for Fractal Define R5 - Absolute Beast
I’m currently using one of the Rosewill rackmount chassis (https://www.rosewill.com/rosewill-rsv-l4412u-black/p/9SIA072GJ92847), fits well in my half rack along with my Unifi gear and HP ProLiant. I probably would’ve gone with something else if I had to buy it though- this was sorta a hand-me-down from a former roommate who didn’t want to take it with him when he left.
I can vouch for the node 804, although I haven’t used the others so I can’t say which is the best.
Just because it’s a bit different to what you asked, and no one else has said it, I’ve found great results with the Terramaster D5-300 and D4-300. Make sure you get the USB 3.1 type Cs, but I’ve been fine with the plain rather than ones loaded with RAID.
For every USB 3.1 socket on the back I get 5 drives, I can increase capacity incrementally, and for spinning rust they are faster than they could transfer anyway.
I’ve replaced my machine with a Dell USFF box now and it all works great.
Completely understand if it’s not your thing but you can add a drive box to your existing system without replacing anything. I’m currently up to 16 drives.
I am using a normal desktop case with an external usb-c 8-bay JBOD drive enclosure from Mediasonic. I’m using mdadm to combine the drives with RAID-6. I know I’m not getting the performance that I could with native SATA, but it can still saturate my 1Gbps network, so it’s good enough for serving video, audio, and some other web-based apps.
I have both Fractal Design and SilverStone cases… love them… but the internal layout is not 100% of the consideration
Have a think about airflow and cabling… some of them have weird air flow designs and if you’re putting the machine inside something, or next to something, then that can make more impact on day-to-day use.
For example, I have a Node 304 (not enough drive space for you) because it fits nicely inside Ikea shelving. But the front air flow under the front bezel did mean I keep that machine near the front of the shelf, not pushed back.
And also consider hotswap drive bay caddies that fit smaller drives into large drive bays. Sometimes these have weird power connections, but if you don’t have them do you have enough PSU leads? So, are they absolutely essential? Possibly. Possibly not…
Maybe not the answer you were lookong for, but those are my main considerations now…
So I recently went through all of this headache. I started really wanting hotswap that didn’t look like it was from the 90’s. I also needed like 8 drives capacity which rules a lot of the popular cases out.
I thought about it for a while and I don’t really touch the drives at all on any of my previous Nas builds so that meant I didn’t need hotswap.
Eventually I decided that rather than try to hide the case away I would make it a feature of my living room and I went with the tower 500 and I really love it and everyone that has gone over has mentioned how cool it looks
That looks an awful lot like what I have. I’m using the Lian Li PC-D600. I think I’ve managed to get my hands on one of the last ones in the wild. They aren’t even available used on eBay anymore.
What I like most about it (and the Tower 500 that you linked) is that the motherboard is on one side, and the drives are on the other. Keeping the drives cool is easy, I just upgraded the fans on my SATA backplanes and the case, and even under load the drives run very cool.
You can have this case when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
