After three years of wrestling with internal drives in a WHS box, I decided that my new server had to have hot swap drive bays.  Unfortunately, server cases with hot swap bays are very expensive, and the 5-in-3 icydock cages that everybody loves are about $100 a pop.  My server lives in a closet, so I don't care how it looks.  I just wanted something reasonably priced.

 

I came up with the Aerocool VX9 ($45) and these SNT-3141 4-in-3 cages ($55 shipped each!).  Beige cages in a black case should be a crime, but like I said, the server lives in a closet.  As a nice bonus, the SNT-3141 cages have shallow grooves cut into them which are just big enough to accommodate the drive tabs in the aerocool case.  That means they slide right in without any amateur sheet metal work.  As far as I can tell, this is the cheapest 12-bay hotswap setup you can put together.

 

 

 

After three years of wrestling with internal drives in a WHS box, I decided that my new server had to have hot swap drive bays.  Unfortunately, server cases with hot swap bays are very expensive, and the 5-in-3 icydock cages that everybody loves are about $100 a pop.  My server lives in a closet, so I don't care how it looks.  I just wanted something reasonably priced.

 

I came up with the Aerocool VX9 ($45) and these SNT-3141 4-in-3 cages ($55 shipped each!).  Beige cages in a black case should be a crime, but like I said, the server lives in a closet.  As a nice bonus, the SNT-3141 cages have shallow grooves cut into them which are just big enough to accommodate the drive tabs in the aerocool case.  That means they slide right in without any amateur sheet metal work.  As far as I can tell, this is the cheapest 12-bay hotswap setup you can put together.

 

 

 

 

nice.. how loud are the fans though?

I don't even think that looks half bad..

Krylon Fusion Black Paint can change them enclosures to black in no time.

 

Otherwise its not a bad looking system at all.

Those look a lot like (well identical except colour) to one model of istarUSA cage.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121913&cm_re=istarusa-_-17-121-913-_-Product

 

I see that store sells the black for $84 too.

 

 

There was another store with the same thing up for auction (no buy it now) starting at a $20 or $25 bid. No idea what price it would reach though.

 

Peter

Awesome build.

nice.. how loud are the fans though?

I'm the wrong person to ask.  Not only is this in a room with about two dozen fans in several systems already making a racket, but after two decades of living, working and sleeping within 10 feet of a running PC, I don't even notice fan noise any more.  Heck, I get uncomfortable if I don't hear a spinning fan for too long.  The fans on the cages are standard 80mm, so you could swap them out for something quiet if you wanted.  The 120mm fan in the back of the case is pretty quiet by my (admittedly skewed) standards.  I don't know how much noise the ridiculous plastic windmill on the side of the case makes, because I removed it before firing up the rig.  Based on the newegg reviews, the huge side fan and fan speed controller are garbage and usually die within a couple months, so I'm not using either.

 

 

Those look a lot like (well identical except colour) to one model of istarUSA cage.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121913&cm_re=istarusa-_-17-121-913-_-Product

 

I see that store sells the black for $84 too.

Yep, that's the exact drive cage I have, except in black.  They're actually a lot nicer than I expected based on the price.  Except for the front and back covers, the cage is entirely aluminum, as are the sleds.  I ran the 3 drives ragged all night doing the initial parity sync, and they never got above 28c.  The ebay seller still has a few left at $55 including shipping, so if you don't care for aesthetics, grab them quick.

I have similar except the drawers are just levers instead of the locks. My main shell and the drawers are all aluminum. They are pretty nice units and you'll get great service from them.

 

You can mount another fan with a little modding even though the supplied one is likely fine. They're a little noisy but what 2500 or 3000rpm fan is quiet? I wanted a better quality fan for peace of mind so I changed mine. I took the back off, took the fan out, drilled through the fan mounting holes and then screwed the new fan on the outside of the cover just using some typical fan mounting screws. I did cut and connect the wires to use the fan connector.

 

Peter

 

I was wondering the temperatures of your drive? (also models/sizes you use)

 

I currently have a box in my garage and I am desperately needing to move it into a closet or somewhere more out of constant climate change.

The warmest I've seen is 30c, and that's with several days of constant use doing multiple parity syncs.

That gives me hope man, thanks. As stated, mine is currently semi-out in the elements. I just ordered a new case today (AZZA Helios 910) to replace my monster Lian Li PC70 case and I will be moving the new rig into a hall closet.

Nice!  Just shows how much money can be saved buying stuff that's not the 'in' color, lol!

 

It really does look like those SNTs are just rebrands of the iStar cages, which have gotten pretty good reveiws on newegg and around here too.  I don't see this buy as even taking much of a gamble, so that's even better!

To be fair, the only drives in my system at the moment are WD greens, which don't run all that hot to begin with.  I've got some toasty seagates in my WHS box that I will be migrating over soon.  I'll probably post a full build thread with details once everything is moved over.

Update:  Now that I'm using 9 of the 12 bays, things are a little warmer.  The WD greens are still in the low 30s, but the three 1.5TB Seagate ST31500341AS drives are in the upper 30s, occasionally breaking 40.  I suppose I could add some fans to the case - there are spots for two 120mm on the top.  I've also had to shim a couple of the trays to keep them from vibrating loudly.  Overall, it's a minor thing for having saved about $150 vs using icydocks.

Upper 30s are still acceptable, I wouldn't worry about it.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121913&cm_re=istarusa-_-17-121-913-_-Product  - not bad for a Canadian price !