For those that want a monster tower, here it is:

 

 

http://www.istarusa.com/istarusa/products.php?model=S-13B-JB

 

 

Nice

 

but not much pics on that site ...

so from the first glance 21 drives ?

would be downloading the manual to see if there are hidden bays but none available 

 

 

What would you need a hidden bay with using unRAID?

 

 

hidden internal 3.5 bays

to put more drives

 

22 is the max drives for the moment for unraid so we are short one

 

Four 5-in-3's and a bay for a fan controller.

Sorry guys, this is a JBOD case. So, you'll have a hard time to put a mobo inside ... just take a look at the dimensions:

9.00" x 26.00" x 18.00"

 

18.00" or 45 cm is way to short for drive cages and a motherboard...

 

And: there aren't any openings for motherboard connectors. One could dremel some, but that would be... uhm... better buy a real case!

So with some eSATA connections and 1x5 port expanders we're looking at external array expansion?

Since the default way of adding more SATA drives is using internal SAS cards, here's another option using those same cards. Obviously it would be best if your SAS cards have external ports to cut down on at the first 2 items.

 

• internal SAS to internal SAS cable (4*$27.50 SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 miniSAS cable)
  
• internal SAS to external SAS converter ($109 4 port 8087 to 8088)
  
• external Multilane SAS cable (4*$47 SFF-8088 to SFF-8088)
  
• external SAS to internal SAS converter ($109 4 port 8087 to 8088)
  

 

Of course I haven't shopped for the best prices, but considering that JBOD case still requires drive cages (4-in-3 or 5-in-3) even before adding in the costs of these cables and converters, I believe the NORCO 4224 is the more economical way to go.