[Q] Where to Add New Drives? No room inside...


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Not needed yet but trying to look at possibilities. My server is full in terms of physical drives. 6 sata2, 2 sata3 on mobo all taken (one for preclear drive slot which is usually empty). Areca Controller provides 12 more sata3 ports of which 8 are taken now. Tower houses 3x 5in3 cages (all taken). I mounted the SSD for cache drive to a rear vent using a 3.5" adapter (sits vertical in rear of case). So I have 4 ports still available on the RAID controller but nowhere (at least internally) to mount additional drives.

 

I have run external RAID enclosures before (windows HTPC setup that predated unRAID replacing it all) by snaking a sata cable out a slot opening in the back (ghetto eSATA lol). But that situation was a single sata port used to connect an Areca External RAID box that took care of the spanning/stripping itself. This time I have 4 cables.

 

Open to suggestions/ideas keeping in mind that cost is a major consideration.

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My backup server outgrew its drive bays and I bought 2 Newegg Rosewill 4in3s. They are very inexpensive and with effort I joined them into a makeshift 8 drive external enclosure. Also, the SAS breakout cables they have are quite long and work great for this external application. Power is a little trickier but I.ran a PSU power lead outside and, well, it works. One disclaimer, my server is in my unfinished basement and aesthetics are a lower priority. But it is fast and cheap and doesn't look half bad if you sleeve the external connections.

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(1)  Buy any nice-looking chassis you like.  The neat little Fractal Node R4 holds 6 drives:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352027

 

(2)  Install a power supply in it to provide power for your additional drives.

 

(3)  Buy this to control the power and fans:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817995089

 

(4)  Run cables between your main system and the "JBOD" chassis you just built.

 

Done :-)

 

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Given that "... cost is a major consideration", you could simply buy a case designed for multiple optical drives ... generally used to make duplicators, but this is an inexpensive way to get a case with as many bays as you want (5, 7, 9, 12, etc.) and a power supply.

 

Here's a 5-bay unit that would work fine for the 4 extra drives you want to add:

http://www.directron.com/csilyher5bsa.html#caption

 

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Here are the products I recommend for an inexpensive out of case experience.

 

width=300http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/16-132-037-02.jpg[/img]

Rosewill 4 in 3

 

width=100http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/16-115-064-S02?$S60$[/img]

Extra Long SAS to SATA Cable

 

As I said, I have 2 of these stacked on top of each other and screwed together with a bit of mesh. They sit on top of my server, but have lots of flexibility of where to locate them with the long SAS cables. From the front it looks great. The cabling is neatly run from the back and doesn't look bad either. Any external connection is going to have something similar.

 

I could see making it a quad supporting 16 drives. That would be enough to make even the tiniest case into a unRAID Pro server.

 

My internal cages are the SuperMicro 5in3s which I prefer. They are rock solid. You click them in they make a perfect connection every time.

 

These are not quite as well engineered. But, if after clicking them in place, you give the cage an extra push into the slot, it will go in a tad deeper and you're good to go. I have used a pair of these for months with perfect results, and just bought another. I've seen them as low as $39.99, and the cable is about 16. So for $56 you have a four slot external chasis with removable slots. I have one that I can move from my prod to backup server to be able to quickly copy data or preclear disks. Works quite well for that.

 

One thing I love about these cages is the 120mm fans on the back. If quiet is important, you can swap them with some silent ones, but the ones it comes with move plenty of air, perfect for keeping drives cooled.

 

I like the 4in3s better than 5in3s external use, because each one is fed by a single SAS cable.

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I also 4-in-3's, primarily because they tend to have much better cooling fans (often 120mm).  All of the drives I have in 4-in-3 cages run cooler than the ones I have in 5-in-3's [i have both SuperMicro and IcyDock 5-in-3's, and they are nice, but definitely don't cool as well as the CoolerMaster 4-in-3's I've got].

 

The Rosewell 4-in-3 Brian suggested above looks very nice -- easy to connect with a single data cable and 120mm cooling fan => and since this question was essentially about how to add 4 more drives ["... So I have 4 ports still available ..."], it's all you'd need  :)

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