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


mr-hexen

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/26/2020 at 10:51 PM, Tulip said:

How many you need, just bought a antec case 1200 from ebay. Dont think i need the screws. Can ship fra Norge til Danmark ;)

Sorry for the late reply.

It's very nice of you, but in my frustration I tore everything apart in the house to find it, and it was in the top tray in the toolbox 🙃

So I've got the screws now. Now I just need to find time to turn it off and put the screws into the last disk so it's not hanging in the wires.

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  • 1 month later...

That's an interesting find @keefd!  Probably one of the best solutions for a modern server build where you want to incorporate some "average sized" PCI-E cards without losing space for HDD cage mounting.  I do agree though, more than I'd want to spend (and that doesn't even cover the HDD cages).  I've never heard of the manufacturer before ... I'd be interested in a build quality review ...

 

 

So it looks like a pretty impressive case, with average or maybe a little better than average build quality.  I think they priced themselves out of the market though.

 

Fractal Design just released the Meshify 2 XL at $180 only a few months after this chassis' release.  It's basically the same size and construction as the Define 7XL but it can breath instead of roast and is $20 cheaper.  Even when you buy the additional trays to complete the build, you'll still be under $300 for a loaded chassis (comes with 6 trays, need 10 more for the stack [10 trays / 2 trays per package = 5 packs * $14 = $70 + $180 = $250 for 16x 3.5" drive locations and 4x 2.5" locations]).  If you were set on hot swappable drives though, the Anidees AI Crystal XL PRO may be the one to beat!

 

I personally just bought a Meshify 2 XL ... and as I build in it, I am very impressed!  Still short of the 20x 3.5" drives possible with 12x 5.25" slots, but I'm happy with this case for my needs.  Really still want that backplane though 😰.

 

-JesterEE

Edited by JesterEE
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@JesterEE - Huh, I always thought the Meshify series was mid-tower at best. That M2 XL does seem better for airflow which IMO is critical for a multi hard drive install.

 

Right now I'm running an old Antec Nine Hundred that I had the fortune to be still holding onto despite SWMBO's protestations to get rid of my old computer junk. I'm running 2x Kingwin 5 into 3x5.25" hot swap bays. I'm considering getting a 3rd hot swap rack even though I only have 7 hard drives at the moment.

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On 12/2/2020 at 7:17 AM, scorcho99 said:

Wish they made some of those new cases in white. I'm not interested in building in anymore black hole cases, can't see anything.

Yes who's dumb idea was to go to black?  Like above cannot see anything in black, bring back white/beige.

 

Next black case I am tempted to to mask stuff off and paint the inside white.

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  • 1 month later...

This thread is a fantastic source of model names!

Anyone know anyplace I can get a nine external 5.25 bay ATX mid-tower like those discussed here earlier? I'm building a system to read old media. Are there any forum sites likely to have good forsale boards?

 

I'm in Massachusetts, I'm checking Craigslist and Ebay but not seeing much that's not full tower, and prices seem very high on Ebay...

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  • 3 weeks later...

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.  

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Sharkoon T9 case picked up on ebay for less than £30 a couple of years ago. Only recently got around to finishing it off with the Icydock 5in3. In hindsight I wish I'd used these in the first place as they don't stick out anywhere near as far as the Supermicros.

Looks a bit of a mutt but with bigger hard drives it has currently replaced 3 smaller builds (Fractal Design Array R2 mini, Node 304 and Arc Mini R2) and will also replace a Fractal Designs R3 backups build soon.

After years of fiddly drive swaps in cramped cases I'm in front loading heaven.

Sharkoon T9 front.jpeg

Sharkoon T9 inside.jpeg

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8 minutes ago, nobladeofgrass said:

Sharkoon T9 case picked up on ebay for less than £30 a couple of years ago.

I have a couple of them although I have not yet gone with the front-loading approach - my 4 in 3 cages load from the inside.  I just don't bother with the drive screws and use old business cards to wedge one side of the drives so they don't rattle around.  It's just a shame they don't make this case anymore - it would still be pretty good for home server use.

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  • 1 month later...

For those have 3d printer you can check this out https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4691890

 

3d print your own server with 24 hard drives case

 

 

 

 

Quote

https://www.youtube.com/c/SlothTechTV

 

371mm X 317MM X171MM

 

I have printed this at .4mm and .6mm layer heights, it doesn't need supports and if you have a cr-10 s4 its printable as an all in one solution. I have a separate file for the ATX power supply adapter.

 

White Hatchbox PLA 1.75mm filament: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J0GMMP6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00J0GMMP6&linkCode=as2&tag=slothtechtv05-20&linkId=6d4c225c9434284ef6519688e575037c

 

Print Settings

Printer brand:

Creality

 

Printer:

CR-10S

 

Rafts:

No

 

Supports:

No

 

Resolution:

0.4

 

Infill:

15%

 

Filament brand:

SUNLU

 

Filament color:

white

 

Filament material:

PLA

 

Notes:

make sure you print at least 5-6 first layers solid to keep the bottom strong. can be filled with hard drives without any problems cooling or structural integrity.

 

Edited by OLELAH
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/8/2021 at 4:07 PM, OLELAH said:

For those have 3d printer you can check this out https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4691890

 

3d print your own server with 24 hard drives case

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, first of all nice Idea and Thanks for sharing! I am also thinking about an 3d-printet HDD-Tray for toolless HDD-Mounting (Topload). But i am not sure about the vibrations in a big case (30 HDDs) and if this cause a higher failrate longterm....yes in unraid just the hdd/hdd-pool spins up that contains the file. But in Paritycheck all HDDs are in working mode....

 

what do you / anybody else think about?

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Just to give people an update on current cases.  Here are the ones I found that I liked the most, there are others of course, but I thought I'd point out the ones that really have good capacity and are actively being sold right now rather than discontinued as of this posting date.

 

Fractal

Define 7 XL series - Full Tower: https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-7-xl/Black/  18 3.5" drive bays with add on HDD cages  $200

Mesh 2 XL Same case as Define 7 XL, slightly different airflow, Mesh 2 XL  - Full Tower: https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/meshify/meshify-2-xl-dark-tempered-glass/black/  ~$200

 

Phanteks

Enthos Elite - Super Tower: https://phanteks.com/Enthoo-Elite.html -13 x 3.5" and 6 x 2.5" ~$850

Enthos 719 - Full Tower: https://phanteks.com/Enthoo-719.html 12 x 3.5" and 11 x 2.5" ~$190 I have this case and REALLY like all aspects of it, from water cooling, lighting, build quality etc

Enthos Pro 2 - Full Tower: https://phanteks.com/Enthoo-Pro2-TemperedGlass.html - with extra drive trays 12 x 3.5" and 3 x 2.5" ~$190 I have this case and again really like it, but the Enthos 719 is better

Eclipse P600S - Mid Tower https://phanteks.com/Eclipse-P600s.html 10 x 3.5" and 3 x 2.5" ~$160

Eclipse P500A - Mid Tower https://phanteks.com/Eclipse-P500A.html 10 x 3.5"

 

Corsair

Obsidian 750D - Full Tower https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Obsidian-Series™-750D-Airflow-Edition-Full-Tower-ATX-Case/p/CC-9011078 9 x 3.5" and 4 x 2.5" ~$160

Obsidian 800D - Full Tower https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Obsidian-Series™-800D-Full-Tower-Case/p/CC800DW 9 x 3.5"" and 2 x 2.5" ~$300

Obsidian 1000D - Super Tower https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Software-Control-and-Monitoring-Cases/Obsidian-Series-1000D-Super-Tower-Case/p/CC-9011148-WW - 5 x 3.5" and 6 x 2.5" $500 I also own this case and it's a beast, I do love it, and it's stuffed with equipment and water cooling.  Given how much space there is, you can easily add extra 3.5" (12 or 25 more easily) mounts, just not sure it'll be pretty.

 

Thermaltake

View 91 RGB Plus - Super/Full Tower: https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/view-91-tempered-glass-rgb-edition.html 12 x 3.5" or 2.5" ~$500 (just ordered and will see what the quality is like and looks like lots of space for what cooling too)

Level 20 - Full Tower https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/level20.html 14 x 3.5" or 2.5" $1000

Core W200 - Super Cube https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/core-w200.html 17 x 3.5" or 2.5" $550 (dual server case) expandable

Core W100 - Full Tower https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/core-w100.html 13 x 3.5" or 2.5" $400

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