Well, my first build is now complete, and I installed 3 coolermaster drive cages (4in3).

http://www.coolermaster.de/product.php?product_id=2542

 

I do not know if these things are readily available outside of Europe, but if you are on a budget, then these are ideal. The fans are truly whisper quiet and 120mm. The cage has big blue rubber "feet" that are used to attach it to the case, thereby decoupling the drives - I have a very cheap (thin aluminium) case and there are no vibrations whatsoever. That's is quiet a feat for 9 drives working away.

 

Considering that these things only cost €18 each on Amazon, I am surprised they haven't really been mentioned much. Anyway, I use them and am happy   

They are available in the US as well: Newegg link

 

There has been plenty of discussion of these units in the past, just not recently.  I personally don't like anything that isn't hot swap these days, but for a budget build these are fine.

Of course hotswap is great. But I had to weigh up the value of what I bought - 18€ for a drive cage or over 130? (in Europe these 5in3's are insanely expensive). I mean I could buy the cheaper cage and get a 2TB drive for that money.

Very true.  Everyone has their priorities weighted differently.

Perfect post at a perfect time OP as I need to buy some for my build. One thing I notice is that people do love to use the hot swappable drive bays like from Supermicro and Icy Dock etc, but I can't really think why to be honest. I mean, honestly why would you need them to hot swap a drive if it fails? Assuming a drive fails once a year, I'd rather spend an extra 5 minutes pulling the drive cage/cables and installing a new drive, than spending hundreds of pounds more to save 3 minutes. Or am I missing something? Yes they look pretty, they can give HDD activity LED and power status LED, but for me, I'd rather just use the unraid status reports to get any drive issues reported rather than have to physically look at the server as mine will be out of the way when complete. I will probably use those coolermaster drive bays. Nice one.

 

EDIT: Of course one advantage to using the expensive stuff is you can use 5 in 3s which maximises drives that can be used Forgot about that.

A quick answer.

 

Because we have OCD!

 

Long answer.

 

1. Drives fail,

when you have a server with 10 - 50 drives, you would have a cable nightmare in your case most of the time. It will be heavy and you have to pull it out of whatever hiding place you have it in. rack or under a desk or in a basement to get into to it... and you might not even be 100% what drive it is? or, you can just pull the lever and pop the drive out. 4 quick screws at the most, some cages are even tray-less or have a screw-less mount.

imagine doing that that a few times a year or even just a few times in the life of the server?

 

2. upgrades

.. see above but you want to go to a faster or bigger drive.

 

3. cooling,

Most of the people that are buying 5in3 or similar and putting drives that need cooling it a spot of a PC case that  would have dead air (non-moving, AKA non-cooling). these cages have fans to cool the drives and move the air reducing the chance of burning out a drive. (this is especially important as your packing them in tighter)

 

4. density,

as you pointed out,  getting more drives/storage in a Chassis. by using 4 of the 5in3's in a 12 bay case, you go from 12 drives to 20 drives in a way that should not be harmful to the drives, possibly better for them due to cooling.

 

5. I'm sure I'm missing something

 

6. Cable management,

seems silly but with cleaner cabling, you get better airflow and better cooling. also it becomes easier to breakfix your PC with less clutter. this is probably part of 1 and 3 above.

 

 

If you are looking for a new 3-5. read reviews and recommendations. where you might think you're saving a few dollars for a cheap one, might cost you hundreds if it kills your drives.

5. I'm sure I'm missing something

 

They also look rather neato

A quick answer.

 

Because we have OCD!

 

5. I'm sure I'm missing something

 

 

And an excuse to play around, test, move drives, more tests, change fans, more tests... oh dear... the twitching...

 

Shawn

In my test server, an Antec 900, I have three of these Coolermaster units, from previous builds. They are perfect for the "test" unit which I have open most of the time, playing with things, preclearing drives, etc. Lot of times, I will slide a drive in from the back side, secure just with two screws so it doesn't vibrate, and test away...

 

Shawn

 

I started off by buying 4 Cooler-master 4x3's.  Then I bought the Antec 1200 case.  After purchasing the 4th cage from Raj I was able to use the fronts and fans from the stock Antec cases and connect them to the HDD cages from the Cooler-masters.  Essentially I turned the stock 3x3’s (4) into 4x3’s (4).  This enabled me to hold 16 HD’s with the stock look.  It may have also bought me sometime before I need to move to the 5x3 hot swaps.  I wouldn't recommend going this route but, it was the one I stumbled upon. 

@jaybee - yes the fact that they only support 4 HD's is a downside, especially if space is limited. Then again, this means more space between HD's so more airflow mabye?

 

@Johnm - I completely agree - upgrades are not as simple - with this Module I have to take out the module, then unscrew the HD. Still, if you have good cable management, it should be quick to install a new HD as the correct SATA & Power cable will already be in the right vicinity of the connectors. Also, what do you mean with better cable management due to the hot-swap bays? I still have a forward breaktout cable that has 4 sata connectors. In your case they attach to a backplane, in my case straight to the HD. You would still have to use the same amount of cables eith erway, or am I missing something? Would be great if they invented a cage with only one connector for 4 or 5 drives!

 

@Rajahal - they do look amazing I agree. Had I had the cash, I certainly would have gotten 3 or four hot-swap cages, but that would have cost as much as the entire rig!

 

 

 

 

 

Would be great if they invented a cage with only one connector for 4 or 5 drives!

 

I thought that some cages (Supermicro?) do have an sff-8088 connector allowing four drives to be connected with a single cable, or is that only in their rack-mount cases?

Would be great if they invented a cage with only one connector for 4 or 5 drives!

 

I thought that some cages (Supermicro?) do have an sff-8088 connector allowing four drives to be connected with a single cable, or is that only in their rack-mount cases?

 

if that is really the case, then I can really see a great benefit, in terms of cable management, if you use a hot swap cage.

Am I missing something about the hot swap cages? Unraid does not support hot swap does it? you need to take the array down to change a drive anyway. So are these just so popular for ease of changing drives and density? (as well as pimp my case)

 

John

I bought 3 5in3 cages not to just buy but I wanted to stick more drives in the case then what the case offered. The only way to do that was to use HD cages. Plus I could use 2 power lines to power 5 hard drives. I think there are many benefits for these cages, not to mention NOT having to deal with any wires when upgrading or replacing.

 

 

 

I bought 3 5in3 cages not to just buy but I wanted to stick more drives in the case then what the case offered. The only way to do that was to use HD cages. Plus I could use 2 power lines to power 5 hard drives. I think there are many benefits for these cages, not to mention NOT having to deal with any wires when upgrading or replacing.

 

 

Thanks, gotcha, just wanted to make sure I was not missing anything. I am just coming back to unraid after quite a few years away, no telling what changes were made 

Just as opentoe says, but you can hot-swap drives without powering down.  Yes, you do have to stop/start the array, but that is still quicker than powerdown and reboot.

True enough

 

I have 3 of them installed in my CoolerMaster 590 and yeah it sucks to swap out a drive, but I'm to the point where everything is labled in my case so its an easy disconnect and reconnect.

 

I personally cut the LED leads and used an adapter to undervolt my fans so they are running on a 7V feed opposed to a 12V. Super quite and they seem to work pretty well.

 

Sure I could of opted for a 5n3, but honestly for the build I wanted I would never achive the amount of drives to fill my case.

Why are the hot swap ones all so expensive? Anyway thank god for these cages cause they mean I can make use of an otherwise useless very cheap case.

When I first started buying some parts for my unRAID box I was shocked that the most expensive items were the hard drive cages. They do have some logic/circuits onboard, but in raw cost aren't worth $99 for a 5 in 3.

 

 

I was looking for reasonable priced cages to and these are great. So glad I found these.

In my main system, an Antec 1200, I have 5x3 units. Yep, costs a lot, but was able to cable everything up once and done. Also, lot fewer power leads.

 

In my test rig, I have CM 4x3 units. Gives me a bit more density and very cheap. Don't mind playing with the wires on this one when swapping out gear...

 

Shawn