I’m kind of in the same boat.  Lucked into a Coolermaster Centurion 590 when I was building my rig last year, everything fits but it’s pretty tight with the cables.  Right now I’ve got a 5in3 and the stock 4in3 cage.  I’m kind of okay with the internal cages rather than hot-swap, given the price difference, but I’d like a little more space, the back panel needs a hard shove to get it closed, and even my tiny hands have trouble getting everything plugged in, my last upgrade took a couple tries since I kept having SATA data and power cables come loose, or just not go in tight as I was getting them all connected.  Something EATX size(just for space, not that I need an E-ATX board) with 12 optical bays would be perfect, or something with like 6 5.25” and a bunch more 3.5”/2.5” bays.  I’ve seen a few locally, but always some major flaw like the HDD bays don’t have fan mounts, or there’s a solid cover over the 5.25” bays that would restrict airflow to my cage.  Few that have lots of 3.5” bays, but not a 5.25” bay which I want for ripping media when I can.  Server cases are just too big a price jump.

7 hours ago, Kelsenellenelvial said:

I’m kind of in the same boat.  Lucked into a Coolermaster Centurion 590 when I was building my rig last year, everything fits but it’s pretty tight with the cables. 

Have you looked at the Cooler Master case I pointed to on eBay in the previous post? You might find it interesting (and they still have a few available as I write this). 

(Curiously, I also have a CM590 which is what I plan to be moving away from... Tight.)

4 hours ago, doron said:

Have you looked at the Cooler Master case I pointed to on eBay in the previous post? You might find it interesting (and they still have a few available as I write this). 

(Curiously, I also have a CM590 which is what I plan to be moving away from... Tight.)

Yes, but given that I’ve already got everything installed and running, I’m not looking to upgrade unless it’s significant.  A bigger case that’s still 9 5.25” bays isn’t really worth the effort to me to have to move everything over, but if I could find one with 12 bays at a good price then I’d probably get one.  I’m also in Canada so the e-bay selection is a little slimmer, and shipping a full tower from the US is more than I’d like to spend right now.  Lots of other good suggestions in this thread and elsewhere, but all the cases that appeal to me are discontinued, and used models seem to not very available, I guess due to their appeal for people that are looking for those kinds of cases for NAS type builds.  I’m currently at 9 3.5” drives, in one 5in3 and the stock 4in3 cages, plus a 2.5” cache SSD taped to the bottom of the case, so I’ve still got 2 empty 5.25” bays available which should last me a little while yet.  Guess I’ll keep checking Facebook marketplace and hope someone want to get rid of a big, old case at a good price.

Check out this case. https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=6_111&item_id=141101
 

12 HD’s!

 

too pricey for me though.

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).

Edited March 5, 20206 yr by paloooz

FFS, I wish they still made this!

Got my hands on an Antec 1200 this weekend for 200 SEK (~20 USD). Have 2 Icy Dock vortex cages and have purchased an Icy Dock fat cage (MB155SP-B). If the fat cage has good enough airflow for Ironwolf drives, I'll eventually go with 4 fat cages for a total of 20 drives.

Edited March 15, 20206 yr by kakmoster

Antec Signature S10 is decent but discontinued.

A couple  of weeks ago I was watching a video of Linus Tech Tips and he used this case: Define 7 XL

Define 7 XL Dark Tempered Glass

Define 7 XL Light Tempered Glass

That case not only looks amazing, but can fit up to 18 drives. It seems that every fan mount can also be used for mounting a drive. In Germany that case goes for about 200€. Looks much better and fits more drives than my crappy Rosewill R4000.

 

 

Edited May 2, 20206 yr by Odom

On 2/1/2012 at 9:26 PM, unSANe said:

Does anyone have thoughts on this case?

 

The Raidmax Seiran

 

 

Specs are here: http://www.raidmax.com/chassis/seiran.html

A Good case overall but love the handgrip they have. It makes it so easy to move around.

Wow, this thread is a wealth of knowledge and INSANELY frustrating at the same time. 

 

Me every other post:

"Oh look, someone just posted a nice build!"

"I like that case"

"it could work for me"

"What case is that?"

DISCONTINUED. not on ebay

repeat from the top 😂

 

Looking to move off my Synology 1812 which has worked great for 9 years but I'm not waiting around for it to fail.  Can't shake the need for 8-12 external swappable drives so I've been looking for a case/cages before mobo, cpu, etc and I can't even get started.

 

Fractal Design 6 looks nice/modern and is available but has anyone modded for external drives?

 

Will keep researching.

1 hour ago, johnny2678 said:

Will keep researching.

Read the thread backwards.  Unfortunately, the advent of hard drives that have humongous storage capacity has virtually wiped out the demand for cases with provision for large numbers of hard drives EXCEPT for server applications.  You could look at the rack mount cases but they don't tend to fit into the normal home decor and, if you actually use a rack, the install becomes expensive!

You could look at the rack mount cases

I actually do have a rack, but every search for a rack-able case with external bays comes back with rosewill (OOS) or supermicro (too big for my 23” depth rack.

Looking at the Chenbro 42300 with 3x4 cages like this guy but it looks awful tight in there, especially for 2 cages.

Wondering if my mobo already has a uhd 630p if I even need a graphics card. I don’t do any gaming.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

15 hours ago, johnny2678 said:

Can't shake the need for 8-12 external swappable drives so I've been looking for a case/cages before mobo, cpu, etc and I can't even get started.

If you need a external enclosure ( no CPU/MB ), you can build by some optical drive enclosure.

 

For example, below is a 9 5.25 bay ( 13 disk ) enclosure, the height same as a mid-tower or not wider then a rack ... those are short in depth (~40cm) . The build still not complete, enclosure come from China and not in good build quality, but it really cheap in price. If you need quality, you may use istarusa s915 or s917.

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 20205 yr by Benson

Hi,

10x 5.25 in uk

https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/server-cases/tower-cases/zalman-ms1000-hs1-mid-tower-chassis-black-ms1000-hs1/

at a good price I would say

Compact case with 8 drive bays 

 

SilverStone SST-DS380B SFF Mini-Tower Case

 

https://amzn.to/3i30qSu

Edited August 2, 20205 yr by RedGrave

On 3/4/2020 at 10:47 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).

Love it. I've got an Antec 902 I would like to do something similar to. Which hotswap bays are those? 

 

EDIT: Think I found them. The Silverstone SST-FS303B. 

Edited August 14, 20205 yr by Plutoker

I've got this absolute monster. Idk what it is tho. It has 16 drive bays and fits two whole systems, complete with sliding motherboard trays.

15 hours ago, Flatfire said:

I've got this absolute monster. Idk what it is tho. It has 16 drive bays and fits two whole systems, complete with sliding motherboard trays.

Took a little digging but I'm pretty sure that's a Topower TP-1400 server case or a similar model from the time (late 90's). It would have originally come with doors on the front like this. 

 

 

 

The only info I can find on it is from a review of the case in 1999. 

http://www.dansdata.com/tp1400.htm

 

Really cool find. Would make for a crazy build. 

Edited August 27, 20205 yr by Plutoker
add more pics

OH MY GOD. Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for information about that thing? How in the world did you find that? I have asked literally anyone I could who would have been selling these kinds of things from that era. That Case looks remarkably similar, with the primary difference being it's a single system chassis

Edited April 7, 20224 yr by Flatfire

I was curious so I hit google for a bit. Very interesting design. You're correct it's not the exact model but it had to be something under the same manufacturer given the color, case style, fans, switches, drive cut outs and the door mounting holes. Of the two I prefer the one you have for it's layout. 

It looks like they also offered a rack mount version around the same era but with far less storage space. 

The Topower TP-1945

http://www.dansdata.com/tp1945.htm

 

The company still has a website up but it's hard to find distributors that carry any of their products. It looks like they shifted to more generic case designs but do offer one server chassis marketed as a "raid case".

The TP2000-C which supports 14 x 5.25 drives. I can't find anyone that sells it or any mentions other than their site.   

 

Edited August 27, 20205 yr by Plutoker

3 minutes ago, Plutoker said:

I was curious so I hit google for a bit. Very interesting design. You're correct it's not the exact model but it had to be something under the same manufacturer given the color, case style, fans, switches, drive cut outs and the door mounting holes. Of the two I prefer the one you have for it's layout. 

It looks like they also offered a rack mount version around the same era but with far less storage space. 

The Topower TP-1945

http://www.dansdata.com/tp1945.htm

 

The company still has a website up but looks like it hasn't been updated since 2010. It looks like they shifted to more generic case designs but did offer one server chassis marketed as a "raid case".

The TP2000-C which supports 14 x 5.25 drives. I can't find anyone that sells it or any mentions other than their site.   

 

So, fun fact. I gave the number on their website a call. They are in fact still in business. I'm going to email them a few photos per their request and see if they can identify the model. Wayback Machine wasn't giving me any images from their site that would help me nail it down

 

7 minutes ago, Flatfire said:

So, fun fact. I gave the number on their website a call. They are in fact still in business. I'm going to email them a few photos per their request and see if they can identify the model. Wayback Machine wasn't giving me any images from their site that would help me nail it down

 

Very cool. Keep us posted. 

 

I may also reach out to them about that TP2000-C. 

Got a bit more info. It's a TP-1620. Got this really grainy photo from the first snapshot available of their website. It's a pretty grainy image, but it's definitely the case. It's slightly different than mine, but purely in those back punchout plates that seem to be configurable anyways.

Looks like the stock image for a lot of their products on the site. Did they provide any other info? Either way its nice to know what you've got. Should make for a fun build. 

 

Interestingly, under the server rack section they have what they call cd/dvd duplicators. They appear to be a variation of your case in single or cube (side by side) styles. The cube series model 1400c has 29 x 5.25 bays in front and says it can be expanded to 49 x 5.25 using the back if im reading this right. 

 

Screenshot of the flyer.