my unraid setup has the original coolermaster case which only accommodates up to 12 drives.  now that unraid supports 16 drives is it possible to make use of drives in external enclosures (e-sata or usb2)?

 

o am wondering if i could just get some kind of bracket that would mount in the back of the case and allow me to plug a sata cable into the inside of it and on the outside it would be an esata port which would connect to an standard external esata enclosure.

my unraid setup has the original coolermaster case which only accommodates up to 12 drives.

I'm using the original CoolerMaster case (CMStacker810), but have used the excellant CoolerMaster 4-in-3 modules, so the case can take 16 drives in 4x 4-in-3 modules.  Or if you want to leave the I/O bay in the top drive bay, you can still fit 14 drives (3x 4-in-3 modules, plus 2 standard 5.25 bays).

 

so you just mount the drives right in there without any kind of drive tray?  wouldnt that cause heat problems having them all stacked so tightly like that without having the coolign fan on each one like you have in the drive trays?

so you just mount the drives right in there without any kind of drive tray?  wouldnt that cause heat problems having them all stacked so tightly like that without having the coolign fan on each one like you have in the drive trays?

The 3-in-4 modules are very well designed.  They consist of mounting plates with rubber vibration buffers, and a large 120mm fan on the front.  There are certainly no cooling problems - in fact cooling is possibly improved by the 120mm fans.  Overall the system is also relatively quite, again due to the large 120mm fans which run particularly quitely. You should find a picture on the coolermaster site.

The only negative is that you do need to open the case when you want to add a drive, but I don't consider that too big a deal.  After all, the coolermaster looks pretty smart with just it's black filtered grills showing on the front.

hmm yea i forgot about the big cooling fan.  i would hate to lose my drive trays though because it does make for simple easy access and its nice to have the drive activity lights on them to tell at a glance which drives are working at any given time.

 

plus after spending $25-35 each for my drive trays i would hate to have to just get rid of them.  i am sure i could recoup come of the loss on ebay but not the full price.

 

but as i said, somethgin to consider.

 

btw - as i recall the case only came with one 3 in 4 module - where can i get additional ones and for how much?

Yes, I forgot that the case comes with one, so you will probably already have one.  I live in NZ so cannot advise where you can buy them. Locally they cost around US$30 each equivalent in my currency.  Although you would loose the use of your trays, it would allow you to go to 16 drives without hanging off external eSATA connectors, cables and drives (which I would not trust for reliability etc.), or having to fork out for a whole new replacement case.

 

http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=CASCLM11710

well it is somethgin to think about.  i actually still have 3 more bays of my original 12 free so its nto somethgin i have to worry about right away but now i knwo what my optiosn are when the times comes (and i am sure it will come sooner than i think)

well it is somethgin to think about.  i actually still have 3 more bays of my original 12 free so its nto somethgin i have to worry about right away but now i knwo what my optiosn are when the times comes (and i am sure it will come sooner than i think)

I have 8 bays filled, but my expansion has slowed due to the increasing drive capacity.  My first 6 drives were Segate 500GB drives that I added approximately one per month.  The last 2 drives I bought were WD7500AAKS (750GB) as the price had come down to an acceptable cents per GB, so my last drive was bought nearly 2 months ago.  I'm now already looking at the new WD 1TB GP drives that run quiter and cooler than the SE drives (with their new Green Power approach which looks extremely well suited to unRAID), they are already available at the same cents per GB I recently paid for the 750GB drives.  Now just waiting to see some independant reviews of these new WD GP drives before making the jump to 1TB per tray, which will really slow down my drive expansion!

yea i currently have 4 500GB Seagate drives, a 300GB PATA, a 160GB PATA and an 80GB PATA.  i threw in the smaller drives because i just had them sitting on my desk collecting dust when i set up the server so i figured why not throw them in there. 

 

i am also looking at a 1 TB drive for my next one - i had not heard about the green WD's.  i will have to check that out.

We have a number of those Cooler Master 4-in-3 modules if anyone's interested:

http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=39

 

i think for now i will stick with my drive trays and then when i get to the point where i need more than 12 drives then i will think about switching over and will probably get them from limetech.  thanks for posting that.