Hello. 

 

If you are using 2 tower computer cases to house 30 drives for the unraid server, do you use like 2 power supplies with Y splitters to get you to 30 power cables? 

 

How is this normally done for people using standard off the shelf multiple computer towers( and not enterprise level professional server cases)  ? 

 

Thanks. 

With very rare exception, people using that many drives utilize server cases with hotswap bays. Otherwise the logistics of getting power and interface to all the drives just gets too hairy, too many chances for things to go wrong.

 

Ebay is a good source for server cases at WAY less than retail.

Yep, that's what I use,  plus hot-swap bays make it a lot easier to manage and far less likely that a cable gets knocked if you're pulling drives or putting more in.

1 hour ago, CHBMB said:

Yep, that's what I use,  plus hot-swap bays make it a lot easier to manage and far less likely that a cable gets knocked if you're pulling drives or putting more in.

 

Maybe if I build a second one I will use a server case but I already have committed to the PC tower route. 

 

One of the problems I ran into was some of the service cases had motherboard what had a 2TB limit or extremely small/loud fans as well as not having a server case to put this 4U size/shape server. 

Thanks. 

You can use some 4in3s or 5in3 as mini external cases to house more drives when case is out of room. With 2 or more, you can screw them together with a little ingenuity into a little mini tower that can sit next to your server. 

 

I have 2 Supermicro CSE-M35T-1Bs which give me 10 extra drives and works great.

 

Each one needs one molex power + SATA connectors. I run a PSU "pigtail" out the back of my case to supply power.

 

The PSU in your server must have the juice.

Can you only run 1 Y-splitter off a single molex or SATA connection or can you run several Y splitters off other Y splitters off other Y splitters as long as your PSU has enough juice ? 

 

Thanks. 

2 hours ago, miogpsrocks said:

Can you only run 1 Y-splitter off a single molex or SATA connection or can you run several Y splitters off other Y splitters off other Y splitters as long as your PSU has enough juice ? 

 

Thanks. 

Technically yes you can (so long as you don't exceed the current rating of the wire coming out of the PSU (each line can handle ~18A max on most power supplies)...  But, every additional splitter is another possible point of failure, and this is one component that the vast majority of them are not exactly known for their manufacture quality....  

 

To be honest, back in the day when I used splitters, I continually had intermittent drops of drives.  I removed them all, actually soldered the wires together instead of splitters, and the problems went away immediately.  When I upgraded my power supply to a modular one, I wound up being short 2 sata connections.  I emailed the Antec, explained the situation to them and they shipped me a couple extra chains at no cost...

 

6 hours ago, miogpsrocks said:

 

Maybe if I build a second one I will use a server case but I already have committed to the PC tower route. 

 

One of the problems I ran into was some of the service cases had motherboard what had a 2TB limit or extremely small/loud fans as well as not having a server case to put this 4U size/shape server. 

Thanks. 

I didn't use a server case in my last build.  Just a tower with 9 x 5.25" front drive bays.  Filled them with 3 x 5 in 3 hot swap bays.

10 hours ago, miogpsrocks said:

If you are using 2 tower computer cases to house 30 drives for the unraid server, do you use like 2 power supplies with Y splitters to get you to 30 power cables? 

 

I use two power supplies, probably not as power efficient but much cleaner and easier to works in each case independently, they are only connect by a single external SAS cable.

I agree with Squid. Power splitters are bad news. Use one or two if you need to, but use cages to minimize then. Think of them as 1 to 5 power splitters with benefits! 

I use one