February 6, 201115 yr I've been building this for a few weeks now, unfortunatley I've run out of money so I'll have to save for the additional drives that I want. The Fractal case has eight drive bays and two 5.25" bays so hopefully I should be able to add 10 drives. The Asus M4A78LT-M has 6 SATA ports and I've added two additional SIL3132 cards to give me a total of 10 ports. The server is very quiet and the drives run at approx 30 deg C OS at time of building: 4.6 Plus OS current: 4.7 Plus CPU: AMD X2 250 Motherboard: ASUS M4A78LT-M Micro ATX RAM: Kingston 4GB DDR3 Case: Fractal Design R3 Power Supply: Corsair Builder Series CX430 (was an Antec Truepower New Modular 650w but this started smoking) SATA Expansion Card(s): 2x Belkin F5U251 (SIL3132) Flashed with basic bios Cables: 18 inch Fans: 2x stock fans for the front and 1x stock fan for the rear. Flash Drive: 2GB Lexar Jumpdrive FireFly Parity Drive: 2.0tb Western Digital WD20EARS, no jumper fitted Data Drives: 2x 1.5tb Seagate ST31500541AS Firmware CC35, 1x 1.0tb Hitachi HDT72101 Cache Drive: Hitachi 500gb HDP725050GLAT80 Total Drive Capacity: 4.0tb Primary Use: Media, music, and general backup Likes: Ease of use, available addons, forum support Dislikes: None so far. Add Ons Used: unMENU, preclear_disk, email notifications, Airvideo, S3 Sleep Future Plans: Upgrade to Pro and add additional drives, probably WD20EARS
February 10, 201115 yr Very nice. I like Fractal Design cases, I just wish they made some with 9x5.25" bays like the CM 590.
March 8, 201115 yr Are the hard drives in this case easier to swap out than using the internal 4-in-3 cages?
March 8, 201115 yr I haven't used this case specifically (or internal 4 in 3s for that matter), but I can say that generally this style of HDD mounting is easier to deal with than an internal 4-in-3. With this style, you can swap out a single HDD easily. With an internal 4-in-3 you generally have to remove the entire cage (meaning unplugging all 4 drives) in order to swap out a single drive. If you are going for a build with internal drives, I would recommend something like this over internal 4-in-3s.
March 8, 201115 yr Yep with my Cooler Master 590 I have to pull (4) Sata connections, (4) Power connections, (1) Fan connection. Of course since I have the case open I might as well spray out all the fans and clean the front filter since I have it torn apart. Kinda a pain in the butt, but it is what it is.
March 8, 201115 yr What is the difference between using the internal HD trays vs the external 5-in-3 cages besides having to open the computer case to access? Is it that much easier to work with? I'm trying to find a balance between value and practicality. It seems the best value is to find a case with internal toolless hard drive trays. It's crazy to me to buy the external hot swap bays that each cost more than the case itself... and you need 3 of them usually, it seems... and at that point, it's more cost effective to get a Norco 4220... except that it sounds like a jet engine. I wonder how many hard drives most people end up actually populating their unRAID servers with so I can get an idea...
March 8, 201115 yr The best "value" internal tool-less cases I have found so far seem to be from NZXT: the M59 and the Alpha. I couldn't find anyone using those cases for unRAID but it seems similar to the Fractal Design R3 internally.
March 8, 201115 yr What is the difference between using the internal HD trays vs the external 5-in-3 cages besides having to open the computer case to access? Is it that much easier to work with? I'm trying to find a balance between value and practicality. It seems the best value is to find a case with internal toolless hard drive trays. It's crazy to me to buy the external hot swap bays that each cost more than the case itself... and you need 3 of them usually, it seems... and at that point, it's more cost effective to get a Norco 4220... except that it sounds like a jet engine. I wonder how many hard drives most people end up actually populating their unRAID servers with so I can get an idea... Yes, it is that much easier. The best quality 5-in-3s use drive trays to which you secure the drive with 4 screws. So swapping out a drive involves shutting down the server, removing the drive tray, unscrewing the old drive, screwing in the new drive, re-inserting the drive tray, and turning on the server. No need to mess with cabling, open the case, etc. This is especially nice for users who have their servers tucked away in a closet or some other out-of-the-way place. There are even trayless models win which allow you to skip even using a screwdriver, but these models tend to be somewhat lower quality and often have poor airflow. The balance you are looking for depends greatly on the number of drives you want to be able to support. If you want 15 or more drives, then the value of the Norco cases can't be beat, even if you don't use all the drive bays. You can also upgrade the fans in the Norco cases for a resulting quieter (though not silent) server. For a smaller server you can get away single hot swap bays like these. 9 of those costs only $150, and they are well worth the expense for the amount of convenience they offer in my opinion (these are trayless units, so no screws needed, and the quality is pretty good for the price). Those are what I use in my personal server. Speaking as someone who builds servers for others, I can say that the 15 - 22 drive range is by far the most popular. I believe that most people reach a point in which they figure that if they are already spending over $1000 on a server, they might as well spend a few hundred more and have a server that is large enough to cover their expansion needs for the foreseeable future. Sure you can build a 6 drive server for much cheaper, but will you want to upgrade it within a year or two? If so, then it might make sense to just buy a larger server now. Everyone's needs are different of course. I started with a 8 - 10 drive server using all internal drives, then upgraded to a Norco 4220 (20 bay), then realized it was too much and downgraded to my current 9 drive server (using the single hot swap bays above). To me, this is the sweet spot. I currently have 9 TB of storage, and as I upgrade my drive capacities I'll reach 16 TB (using 2 TB drives) before I have to think about expanding. By that point I'll probably want a newer and faster server anyway.
March 8, 201115 yr Thanks for sharing your experiences and own personal setup. Why are the trayless units less quality? I like the idea of trayless and if they are of good quality, it would seem more worthwhile than having to deal with the mess of wires and such. Reading other posts, it seemed there weren't many recommendable trayless solutions so I thought the "hassle" would be similar. With the external hot swap, you'd have to remove the old tray and install it on the new hard drive. With the internal tool-less, you'd have to remove the power and SATA cables and reinsert them into the new one. I have looked at the Drobo and like how their drives are swapped without any trays or tools and I like the notification lights. Is there anything that makes unRAID work similarly? Raj, I don't know how many times I have changed directions on my unRAID build due to your posts! I'm thankful for your informative posts and helpful recommendations Thanks again!
March 8, 201115 yr Are the drive trays made of plastic or metal? All of the drive trays I've used are a combination of metal and plastic. The Norco drive trays protect the drive with metal sheeting, but the tray handle is plastic (though still quite sturdy). The Icy Dock trays have metal drive supports (that don't protect the drive at all) and metal handles, but other parts are plastic. The Supermicro trays are all plastic except for the drive supports (and the handles feel flimsy to me). Thanks for sharing your experiences and own personal setup. Why are the trayless units less quality? I like the idea of trayless and if they are of good quality, it would seem more worthwhile than having to deal with the mess of wires and such. Reading other posts, it seemed there weren't many recommendable trayless solutions so I thought the "hassle" would be similar. The trayless 5-in-3 units I've used tend to have poor airflow. There's a lot more infrastructure in place to allow for a trayless design, so there's less room for airflow. If you use only green drives and have good case cooling then you can get away with it, but it is something you have to pay attention to. The drive bay doors tend to be a bit harder to close as well, and sometimes don't latch as reliably. If you want trayless, I highly recommend the single hot swap bays I mentioned earlier. They are cheap, pretty good quality, and they work well. They also have notification lights a la drobo (though I've noticed that the lights on one or two of mine stay on constantly, even when the drives are spun down, so they may not be all that reliable). Airflow is fine as well as each drive gets its own 5.25" bay. Best of all, you don't need to modify your case to use them. Just don't use a case with drive rails, as they don't always sit too securely in drive rails. By the way, what case are you using for your personal server, Raj? Antec 902 version 2 (with the front-side eSATA port). One of these days I'll get around to posting a UCD thread about it...kind of ironic that I haven't done that yet.
March 8, 201115 yr Zaxxan, can you pull off the right side cover of your case and take a picture of the back side of the internal drive area? I'm researching cases that have those type (turned 90 degrees). I've been working on moding a case to have internal hot-pluggable drives. To do it there has to be a way to mount the backplane circuit boards. I've found one that works but the Fractal case has a unique style making it interesting. Internal hot pluggable would be cheaper than external 3 in 2 or 5 in 3 units and also would avoid the other two problems of loud fans some of those use and the crowding of the motherboard that most do.
March 8, 201115 yr Also, for the price of 9 single hot swap bays, you could get 2 of these SNT 5-in-3 external hot swap bays. How would you compare the two?
March 8, 201115 yr Also, for the price of 9 single hot swap bays, you could get 2 of these SNT 5-in-3 external hot swap bays. How would you compare the two? Tough to say as I've never used the SNT models. I have researched them quite a bit, and the consensus is that the fans are loud (not surprising since they are so small). The fans are replaceable of course, but finding quiet fans that small will be a challenge. Plus, putting any more money into them sort of negates their appeal. Also notice the tiny airflow vents on the bay doors. I expect that drives may run a bit hot in these cages, but I can't say for certain without testing them. The single hot swap bays have no fans but plenty of airflow space, so I've found that the case's fans are enough to keep all my drives cool (even 7200 rpm ones). This helps keep noise and power consumption down. The only downsides I see to the single hot swap bays are 1) reduced drive density, of course, and 2) more complicated cabling as each bay needs individual power and data cables. You'll very likely need some molex splitters unless you have a PSU with tons of molex plugs (or a modular one for which you can order extra molex cables). I just use the splitters.
March 8, 201115 yr I almost bought those SNT units. If I did, I would remove the fans entirely and rely on exhaust fans. Same way I do now with the fanless trayless units. The only issue with using exhaust fans in this manner is every slot needs to be full so that the same air pressure is pulled from the front of the machine.
March 26, 201115 yr Author Zaxxan, can you pull off the right side cover of your case and take a picture of the back side of the internal drive area? I'm researching cases that have those type (turned 90 degrees). I've been working on moding a case to have internal hot-pluggable drives. To do it there has to be a way to mount the backplane circuit boards. I've found one that works but the Fractal case has a unique style making it interesting. Internal hot pluggable would be cheaper than external 3 in 2 or 5 in 3 units and also would avoid the other two problems of loud fans some of those use and the crowding of the motherboard that most do. Sorry, I have only just seen this post, let me know if you still require the photo.
March 27, 201115 yr Zaxxan, can you pull off the right side cover of your case and take a picture of the back side of the internal drive area? I'm researching cases that have those type (turned 90 degrees). I've been working on moding a case to have internal hot-pluggable drives. To do it there has to be a way to mount the backplane circuit boards. I've found one that works but the Fractal case has a unique style making it interesting. Internal hot pluggable would be cheaper than external 3 in 2 or 5 in 3 units and also would avoid the other two problems of loud fans some of those use and the crowding of the motherboard that most do. Sorry, I have only just seen this post, let me know if you still require the photo. Yes, if it's no too much trouble.
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