October 15, 200718 yr Anyone have any good recommendations for a semi-portable enclosure to use for 8 drives. Would prefer to keep the size and weight a minimun as possible. I realize that the drives alone are going to be a good weight, let alone when you add the motherboard, power supply, etc. I just want something that's manageable as I will need to take the unit with me. So any 8-bay or 6-bay (that I could install two 4:3 backplanes) into that would fit the goods, be durable, and reasonably compact? Thoughts?
October 15, 200718 yr What size drives are you considering using? I say that only to make sure you aren't trying to build an 8-drive array out of 250GB drives. Three 1TB drives would fit in a variety of SFF cases from Shuttle or others. Otherwise, you will be looking at a standard small server box which will hardly be portable (60+ pounds) when fully stocked and it is doubtful if a case handle would allow picking it up easily. Heck, even the SFF box will weigh a lot, though the smaller number of drives will also allow you to use a smaller (and lighter) PSU. Bill
October 16, 200718 yr I like and use an Antec Super Lanboy, which I highly recommend. They are unfortunately hard-to-find any more, although Newegg apparently now has some in stock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129145. It is incredibly light, mostly aluminum with some plastic, less than 9 lbs before loading up, feels like only a couple of pounds. It comes with a quite useable carrying strap, that I tend to leave on, but unsnapped. Before installing your stuff, it feels flimsy, but is sturdy enough when fully loaded. Over 300 Newegg reviewers can't be wrong! A Google search finds some old reviews also. Antec product page: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15001. Other cases I would look into are those that claim to be lan party cases. I don't know how much transporting you are planning, or how rough the conditions it would need to endure. The Lanboy is fine for occasional trips, but I don't think I would fly with it, or expect it to hold up under more severe conditions than a road trip. I've been trying to set up a business that partly involves disaster planning, and I've been thinking about recommending/building grab-and-go backup servers, using a case like this. With unRAID, it could be set up without video, and only have 2 cables to yank off the back, and easily grab the strap handle and scram, as part of a fire/tornado/earthquake/hurricane evacuation plan. When not installed, I keep the (cheap) video card in a static bag inside the case.
October 17, 200718 yr Author What size drives are you considering using? I say that only to make sure you aren't trying to build an 8-drive array out of 250GB drives. Three 1TB drives would fit in a variety of SFF cases from Shuttle or others. Bill I've got 8 Seagate 750GB SATA2 drives sitting here that I've been laboring over for some time how to implement. There is no ideal solution out there it appears given my unique needs. But a small, light, strong, and movable case would be workable. I've seen some 4 bay units that you could use backplanes to get 6 drives into but I want 6-8 bays so I can get 8-10 drives in the case. Doesn't matter if it has a handle but would be nice.
October 22, 200718 yr Author I think I found the perfect case. It's more of a mini tower. I would prefer a squat LAN case but this mini tower can hold EIGHT DRIVES right off the bat with no mods or extra hardware. The KILLER thing about the case is that it has a handle for easy movement. The weight of the case itself isn't much, though I know the drives, PS, motherboard, etc will up the weight. The quality is also awesome and has some amazing reviews on NewEgg. And get this it's only FIFTY BUCKS. Portable Storage For Eight+ Drives Excellent Build Quality Handle Glowing Reviews $50 ! ! ! Check it out and give me your throughts. FYI this is a Mico ATX case, there is also a full ATX version of this case for the same price but it's 2in higher and deeper. Ideal would be an 8 port SATA Micro ATX motherboard but all seem to ATX. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154071
October 23, 200718 yr For me the ideal solution was actually CD Duplicator cases. You can get them with a power supply that you do not have to hotwire to turn on and you can put your favorite backplanes in for drive caddies. Just use google for something like this... http://www.ocie.com/duplicator_case-9-ctg.htm
October 23, 200718 yr Author For me the ideal solution was actually CD Duplicator cases. You can get them with a power supply that you do not have to hotwire to turn on and you can put your favorite backplanes in for drive caddies. Just use google for something like this... http://www.ocie.com/duplicator_case-9-ctg.htm I've often thought about using a CD Duplicator case myself. The on problem though is that the ones I've seen don't have a spot for the motherboard. In other words where are the motherboard mounts and more problematic where do you access the ports on the back?
October 23, 200718 yr My use is purely as external storage so no mobo required. My main server/case only holds 9 drives. I could get a new case to house them all but instead just put them external with long sata cables (I am lazy).
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