Tower cases with 5.25" drive bays top to bottom...

[Nanobug]

On 11/11/2021 at 10:39 PM, zemosabe said:

Anidees AI Crystal XL PRO is back in stock at Newegg FYI.

 

https://www.newegg.com/black-anidees-ai-crystal-xl-pro-e-atx-full-tower-case/p/2AM-0035-00059?Item=9SIA7TDADT2172&cm_sp=SellerProfile_MKPL-_-P2_9SIA7TDADT2172-_-11082021

Why not just buy a Fractal Design Define 7 XL?

https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-define-7-xl-atx-full-tower/p/N82E16811352118

[whipdancer]

2 hours ago, Nanobug said:

Why not just buy a Fractal Design Define 7 XL?

https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-define-7-xl-atx-full-tower/p/N82E16811352118

It doesn't look like it supports optical drives top to bottom.  After the top 2 slots, there are fans in front.

[Nanobug]

3 hours ago, whipdancer said:

It doesn't look like it supports optical drives top to bottom.  After the top 2 slots, there are fans in front.

You can install 18 drives in it. And if you're willing to mod a little 19 and 20 can be done too.

[whipdancer]

On 11/13/2021 at 2:46 PM, Nanobug said:

You can install 18 drives in it. And if you're willing to mod a little 19 and 20 can be done too.

 

So it doesn't have 5.25" bays top to bottom.  Good to know.

[Nanobug]

4 hours ago, whipdancer said:

 

So it doesn't have 5.25" bays top to bottom.  Good to know.

 

LTT made a video about it last summer:

 

[Vetteman]

On 11/13/2021 at 4:46 PM, Nanobug said:

You can install 18 drives in it. And if you're willing to mod a little 19 and 20 can be done too.

It's a tad heavy for an old scudder like me, I'm closing in on 70 years of age. And empty it weighs in at 36 pounds!!!!

[Nanobug]

17 hours ago, Vetteman said:

It's a tad heavy for an old scudder like me, I'm closing in on 70 years of age. And empty it weighs in at 36 pounds!!!!

I see.

If you live in Denmark and you're within a few hundred kilometers, I can stop by and help?

[Vetteman]

4 hours ago, Nanobug said:

I see.

If you live in Denmark and you're within a few hundred kilometers, I can stop by and help?

Thanks young fella for the kind offer, but I live on the other side of the ocean in Nova Scotia which is on the Atlantic coast of Canada north of the fine American state of Maine.

 

I'm not weak, just a little long in the tooth. A few more aches and pains then I used to have. Most of my youth and adult life I played ice hockey and tennis. Stopped playing hockey about 15 years ago when I turned 52. Used to play hockey all winter, spring & fall. And most of the summer as majority of rinks have their ice in all year. My tennis partner lost a battle to cancer around the same time. 

 

 

[NlCode73]

New to unraid en just browsing the forums, seen some nice stuff and i like diy.
So i posted a LF  Cooler Master Centurion 590 on a local geek site not expecting anything after reading how hard it seems to get one.

Few hours later i got contacted and bought it blind, waiting for the mailman to bring it.

Good times.

[sm2]

Got a 9 x 5.25 tower case available if anyone interested? Fits the topic description perfectly.

[S80_UK]

On 2/3/2022 at 11:50 AM, sm2 said:

Got a 9 x 5.25 tower case available if anyone interested? Fits the topic description perfectly.

I am OK, but for others it would be good if you could let people know where you're located (in which country at least) due to possible shipping constraints.  Thanks.

[jrd680]

Im surpised noone has mentioned the cooler master N400 case.  out of the box it holds 8 HD and has 2 external 5.25 bays.  You can buy any number of 3 into 2 inserts to turn that into an 11 HD case using those two bays.  
 
I just bought one for about $70.  I also have a rosewill 4500, which holds 15 drives.  These are currently $180, fyi.  I didnt need a second one at that price.  I believe i bought my 4500 for ~ $100 in 2013.  

I have the N400 case, things are really tight, I don’t like it overall, wish it was roomier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[craigr]

A friend of mine found this case on Ali:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003148866235.html

 

14x 3.5 bays up the whole front.  Anyone tried it?  It's pretty pricey at $257 without power supply (PS is optional).  Looks ideal if it's not garbage.  Is it similar to any other cases?

 

Thanks,

craigr

[jrd680]

1 hour ago, craigr said:

A friend of mine found this case on Ali:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003148866235.html

 

14x 3.5 bays up the whole front.  Anyone tried it?  It's pretty pricey at $257 without power supply (PS is optional).  Looks ideal if it's not garbage.  Is it similar to any other cases?

 

Thanks,

craigr

 

I like the look of this case, not sure how good it is but looks promissing. 

[craigr]

I just found it here at Lazada as well.

 

https://www.lazada.com.ph/products/14bay-hard-drive-tower-multi-disk-storage-server-desktop-computer-chassis-atx-compatible-main-box-quasi-power-supply-chia-mining-i2529032021.html

 

craigr

[craigr]

So I asked my friend who found that case how he found it.  He said he started searching for "mining server case."  I don't know why mining cases apply as mining generally doesn't need lots of storage, but that was the key for him.  I'm curious if you guys ever come up with any other cases that way.

 

craigr

[ChatNoir]

27 minutes ago, craigr said:

I don't know why mining cases apply as mining generally doesn't need lots of storage

Generally true, except for Chia.

[paloooz]

On 3/4/2020 at 8:47 PM, paloooz said:

I recently built a new system using a used Antec Twelve Hundred I got on ebay. This case is in near perfect condition and the auction for it went up to around $450. I suspect a fellow unraid user had similar plans with it as I did. I decided to go with 3 x 2 hotswap bays for a total of 18 slots rather than the 4 in 3 or 5 x 3 caddies. Better air flow, but only 18 slots instead of 20. Close enough! The main reason is so I wouldn't have to modify the slots on the inside of the case to accommodate the flat sides of the 5 x 3 caddies. I'm attaching an image. 152TB usable storage now with room to expand. 4 empty slots, 10 x 12tb drives, 4 x 16tb drives (2 are parity).

 

This setup is now in the past for me. It lasted about 2 years before I was out of hard drive slots and needed to horizontally scale. The Antec 1200 case is great, and I am now going to look into selling it. I wonder if I can do that here on the unraid forums! I actually have TWO Antec 1200 cases, one is pictured above and has all of the hotswap bays in it already, the other has the normal faceplates. Anyway, here's what I'm running now in case you're wondering:

[Hoopster]

1 minute ago, paloooz said:

I wonder if I can do that here on the unraid forums

Well since there is a Buy, Sell, Trade forum you could list it there.

[sm2]

On 2/16/2022 at 4:21 PM, craigr said:

A friend of mine found this case on Ali:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003148866235.html

 

14x 3.5 bays up the whole front.  Anyone tried it?  It's pretty pricey at $257 without power supply (PS is optional).  Looks ideal if it's not garbage.  Is it similar to any other cases?

 

Thanks,

craigr

 

Off topic IMHO. People looking for external 5.25 bays aren't interested in internal 3.5 bays.

Edited March 9, 2022 by sm2

[DaveHavok]

On 3/4/2022 at 9:29 AM, paloooz said:

 

This setup is now in the past for me. It lasted about 2 years before I was out of hard drive slots and needed to horizontally scale. The Antec 1200 case is great, and I am now going to look into selling it. I wonder if I can do that here on the unraid forums! I actually have TWO Antec 1200 cases, one is pictured above and has all of the hotswap bays in it already, the other has the normal faceplates. Anyway, here's what I'm running now in case you're wondering:

Hello @paloooz!

Some quick questions - I'm looking at doing a rebuild of my server for increased hard drive storage and was curious what the drive capacity of yours is. Also, are you using hard drive cages? What's holding your hard drives in this setup!

Thank you for any info you can provide!

Cheers!

UPDATE:
I may have answered my own question looking at these:
https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Rackmount-Computer-Pre-Installed-RSV-R4000/dp/B00N9CXGSO?th=1

Edited May 1, 2022 by DaveHavok
:)

[Lebowski89]

Have been using such a case since 2008, with another added in 2011. Lian Li PC-P80B (2008) and PC-P80N (2011). Love them. Have added hotswap bays to the PC-P80B, and it serves as my DAS/Pfsense router. Went with 1x5, 2x 4, and 1x 3 hotswap enclosures. The N is my Unraid server/ Gaming rig. They are connected via SFP+ Mellanox 10GB NICs / SAS HBA card. The twin towers. Been going strong for two years now, but am only now starting to add additional drives. Put some 10TB Exos in today.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Lebowski89

[DaveHavok]

Spotted this Antec 1200 (Refurbished) - I can't vouch for the vendor:
https://www.priceblaze.com/CAP1200V3-Antec-Power-Supply?ref=gshp

I was interested in an Antec 1200 myself, but it's just way too heavy of a case for me.

Good luck!

[Yankton]

Caselabs is being resurrected!  https://caselabs.se/

Not quite there yet but coming.  They will be selling old stock first and then updating their case lineup.  Beautiful stuff.

[GeorgeJetson20]

On 1/1/2022 at 5:34 AM, Nanobug said:

I see.

If you live in Denmark and you're within a few hundred kilometers, I can stop by and help?

I have a Fractal Meshify 2 XL and you can get total 16 drives in there counting M.2's and SSD's but it's heavy as heck to move.  I have since reduced the number of my 14tb drives in that case to use them for another server, but the Meshify 2 XL is great if you need a ton of hard drives.