Need Ideas - Convert My Rackmount Server to a Quiet Non-Rack Chassis

[jhyler]

I currently have Unraid installed in a rack.  It's not really a full-up server build, the motherboard and power supply are ATX, but it's in a 4U Norco RPC-4020 server case which gives me 20 3.5" disk trays, and I currently have 18 of them filled with 10TB disks.  Nothing fancy, as I said, but it has served me well for years.

 

Mostly due to the case fans, the server is as noisy as you expect a server to be, and until now that's never been a problem.  The rack has been kept in an unused  "granny flat" building, and noise didn't matter.  Now somebody is going to move in there and the rack has to go. The Unraid server has to move into something a lot smaller and much quieter.  Something on the order of table-fan-on-low-speed quiet.

 

I know the easy way forward would be to move the server into a 12U "soundproof" rack.  But I'm not sure that would be good enough. To be fair, I've no experience with them and have never heard how much sound they leak.  But from looking at the Amazon listings which say "Soundproof! 36% Quieter!" I'm skeptical.  I think taking 36% off my server just moves it from jet engine to vacuum cleaner level of noise.  (I assume they mean a 36% reduction in dB level and I know dB level is logarithmic, but even so...)  Not to mention those racks are pricey.

 

An alternative would be to find an ATX case which (with maybe some aftermarket disk cages) can hold 20 3.5" disks. If I could find that I could just move everything from the Norco case into it, add quiet fans, and be done - probably at less cost than the soundproof rack.  But alas, the only potential cases I've found are discontinued and unavailable. I'm running out of ideas.

 

Has anyone else found themselves in this kind of situation?  How did you solve it?  If anyone has any advice, either on "soundproof" racls or non-rackmount solutions, I'd really appreciate any ideas you could pass my way. 

 

Thanks!

Edited January 3, 2023 by jhyler