July 20, 200916 yr Hello all, I'm about to embark on my first unRAID build. I've chosen the Centurion 590 as the case to house everything but I'm getting stuck on drive cages/backplanes. I may be starting out with up to 6 drives and will add a drive cage or backplane to accommodate them. I like the idea of the hot-swap bays for adding new drives but the cost of these units just seems so high by comparison to the other components. I mean, do I really have to spend more on the drive cage than I am spending on MOBO/CPU/RAM? I've seen the Jou-Jye ST-3141 in the wiki described as the cheapest proper solution but I can't seem to find any retailer that carries it in the US. Are there any other similar products that might go easier on the wallet? Thanks in advance.
July 20, 200916 yr Here's 2 possible options http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817990004 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121179 For the single trays, you can disable the internal fan and just install some big case fans to suck the air through the drives. Block off all the other case openings so the air has to go through the drive drawers. Peter
July 20, 200916 yr Hello all, I'm about to embark on my first unRAID build. I've chosen the Centurion 590 as the case to house everything but I'm getting stuck on drive cages/backplanes. I may be starting out with up to 6 drives and will add a drive cage or backplane to accommodate them. I like the idea of the hot-swap bays for adding new drives but the cost of these units just seems so high by comparison to the other components. I mean, do I really have to spend more on the drive cage than I am spending on MOBO/CPU/RAM? I've seen the Jou-Jye ST-3141 in the wiki described as the cheapest proper solution but I can't seem to find any retailer that carries it in the US. Are there any other similar products that might go easier on the wallet? Thanks in advance. How about this There are two schools of thought on hot-swap style backplanes ... 1 (the most common) is that they are a nice convenience and well worth the investment. Besides they look cool. 2 (the budget unRAIDer) is that these are expensive and unneeded. They are yet another thing to go bad with the signal and power connections to the drive. Instead, install the drives into the case using something like the link above (or a DIY technique). Install large case fans to keep them cool instead of needing to use the small fans incorporated into the backplanes that typically don't cool all that well and are loud. When you need to replace a disk it takes 30 minutes instead of 5. You can check out the My Rig link in my sig to see where I fall. BTW, a warning, although you can use "hot swap bays" with unRAID, unRAID does ***NOT*** support hot swapping!!! The last user that tried hot swapping spent a ton of time and effort to recover and ultimately lost a drive's worth of data.
July 20, 200916 yr Put this on AUTO-NOTIFY and wait. The price is the lowest and these are quite functional within the Centurion 590. Just purchase some extra 120MM fans and keep the fronts clear by blowing out the dust every few weeks. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215046
July 20, 200916 yr Author Thanks so much for all the replies. The single drive hot-swap bays seem like a great solution for now. I think it will come down to those or the server case 5-in-3 bracket. Time to start price shopping for all the components.
July 21, 200916 yr Nice cheap drawer Weebotech. I tried to find one like that with a quick search but didn't... This is a very good cage, has a fan already with it and works much like the one included with the case. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002 Just take the plastic piece off the front and it fits behind the 590 filtered 5.25" grills. Peter
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