I came across this external hard disk case. It supports up to 8 x 2TB drives using 2 eSATA connections (and port multipliers). Seems like a good solution if there's no more space for drives in your tower.

 

From posts on this forum, it seems there is a risk of incompatibility between the port multiplier chip and the onboard SATA chipset, but the good thing in this case (ha!) is that the company sells a PCI-e x8 card with 4 eSATA ports that supports the case. (The card uses the Sil3124 chip, so there's a chance that any eSATA card with that chip would be compatible). In Singapore, the cost of the case is about US$615 and the card is about US$215.

 

One potentially BIG downside is the PSU in the case. The specs say the PSU is 120W and the output is DC +12V/14A, +5V/17A. Based on the numbers in the PSU thread, a drive could need 2A for spin up. So spinning up eight drives..... Or would staggered spin up - if implement - help? And if the PSU fails, it will probably be difficult to replace.

 

I'll see if I can find one in stock and kick the tyres.

What would xfer speed be for the esata or sas card, and would it be compatible with unraid drivers? Would be a $850 waste if none of that crap worked. At this point if you have a sub 20 drive unraid, would be increasingly cheaper and faster just to buy something like a norco 4220 case and xfer all your internals.

That's a nice neat solution, but for $850, I would build another PC case.

Put removable sata units in it.

A few addonics port multipler cards on PCI brackets, PSU and you would be all set.

In a second CM-590 case you could house 3 sets of 5 drives via PMP.

I appreciate that this sort of solution might not be particularly useful to unRAID users in the USA, but unfortunately in Singapore we can't get things like Norco cases, Addonics cards, most (all?) of the drive cages mentioned on the forum. It's possible to get them shipped in sometimes at the risk of warranty problems, but you might be surprised at how many websites don't ship internationally or don't accept foreign credit cards (e.g., Newegg). I stand to be corrected, but I've spent far too much time looking around for stuff (my wife will back me up on this one).

 

Anyway, for those who might be interested I went to kick the tyres on the Stardom case, which does look very nice, but got distracted by the ICY DOCK MB561US-4S. It's like half the Stardom - one eSATA connection port multiplied into 4 SATA drives - at about half the price. The PSU seems better suited for 4 drives: 112W, 12V peaking at 12A. The website says there's a 3 year warranty, but the local dealer tells me it's 1. *Sigh*

 

Still weighing up the options...