Stackable cases

[Ron]

I am thinking of going the stackable route, and have a few ideas, but I have no experience with stackables. I currently have a Lian Li PC http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt-portfolio/pc-q25/ that is almost maxed in hdds. I was thinking of maybe buying another one and stacking it or maybe getting a https://www.pccasegear.com/products/30397/thermaltake-core-x9-e-atx-cube-chassis/  which is a bit larger than I would like. Can any case be made to a stackable? Do you need a 2nd power supply, or do you just run the cables through the top of one case to the top case? Any info on this would be helpful. I would like to have the capability of 12 3.5 hdds for now, and more later.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Ron

[tdallen]

Hi -

 

Are you trying to run two full systems, or just add an external enclosure for more hard drives?

[Ron]

Just for more drives.

[tdallen]

Makes sense, I'll take a look - but the search terms I'd work with are external enclosure, external SATA enclosure, etc.  Don't go USB, bad idea go SATA.  Possibly along with an LSI 9201-16e (take a look, it's designed to have the SATA cables go external).

[Ron]

Thanks, I am def going with SATA all the way.

 

[Ron]

Would this be the one to get?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sixteen-port-Half-length-Lsi-9201-16E-Port/dp/B00487AYQQ/?tag=tapainc-20

[Ron]

Would I just run the cables through a grommet (one for power, and a second for SATA)on the external unit?

[ken-ji]

Usually the better units will have its own power supply, and a "external" port for receiving the data cable

Personally I recommend using an enclosure with a SFF-8088/SFF-8644/Inifiniband/FC connector rather than individual SATA connectors.

Avoid anything with just a single or pair of SATA ports, as they use port multipliers which can get very slow during parity checks and rebuilds.

Plus most the SATA controllers with port multiplier support have been known to be buggy depending on actual implementation

.

I'm using the now out of production 8bay Areca 4036, which paired with the LSI-9206-16e, keeps necessary cables down to 1x SFF-8644

In fact, my current server is only housing the cache drive, everything else is on the enclosure, so an outage /cable failure will drop the entire array at once, reducing potential issues.

 

 

[Ron]

1 hour ago, ken-ji said:

Usually the better units will have its own power supply, and a "external" port for receiving the data cable

Personally I recommend using an enclosure with a SFF-8088/SFF-8644/Inifiniband/FC connector rather than individual SATA connectors.

Avoid anything with just a single or pair of SATA ports, as they use port multipliers which can get very slow during parity checks and rebuilds.

Plus most the SATA controllers with port multiplier support have been known to be buggy depending on actual implementation

.

I'm using the now out of production 8bay Areca 4036, which paired with the LSI-9206-16e, keeps necessary cables down to 1x SFF-8644

In fact, my current server is only housing the cache drive, everything else is on the enclosure, so an outage /cable failure will drop the entire array at once, reducing potential issues.

 

Thanks, I will look into that.

 

[SSD]

Not sure exactly what you're looking for, but I have taken a pair of CSE-M35T-1B hot swap 5in3s and connected them with some metal strips / panels, creating a very compact "mini-tower" that I can run next to my server. 3 SFF-8088 cables from an LSI SAS9201-16e work nicely. 2 Molex cables for power and you'd be in business. Small footprint, self cooling. Hot-swap is excellent. Works for me.

 

The fans in those units are awesome for cooling, but can be a bit loud. Replacement fans might be needed depending on your requirements.

 

I've given thought to moving to a small case with no drives, and running all the drives in little pairs (or tris or quads) of external hot swap enclosures. Would love a NUC sized device with an SFF-8088 or even a few SATA ports. That with a 4in3 would make an awesome portable server.

[uldise]

If you wanna additional case with own PSU, you can use Supermicro JBOD Power board, see here for details: https://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-cse-ptjbod-cb1-jbod-power-board-diy-jbod-chassis-made-easy/

[JorgeB]

You can also use a PC case, maybe one you already have from a previous project, then connect to the main tower with a SAS cable/expander, like the photo below.

 

I have a 0.5 meter SAS cable from the main case HBA to an internal to external SAS adapter, then a 2 meter external SAS cable connecting to another external to internal SAS adapter, finally another small cable connecting the adapter to a SAS expander (the total SAS connection length can be up to 10 meters, though you want to avoid being close to the limit if possible), the expander then connects to normal SATA drives, here you need to respect the max 1 meter SATA cable length.

 

It also makes it very easy to disconnect the second case, just pull the single SAS cable.

 

This can be done without a lot of money, especially if you already have the case, and it's very reliable, IMO the most reliable option, other external options like USB and e-SATA with port multipliers should be avoid as it's just a mater of time you'll run into issues.

 

[ken-ji]

44 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

You can also use a PC case, maybe one you already have from a previous project, then connect to the main tower with a SAS cable/expander, like the photo below.

 

I have a 0.5 meter SAS cable from the main case HBA to an internal to external SAS adapter, then a 2 meter external SAS cable connecting to another external to internal SAS adapter, finally another small cable connecting the adapter to a SAS expander (the total SAS connection length can be up to 10 meters, though you want to avoid being close to the limit if possible), the expander then connects to normal SATA drives, here you need to respect the max 1 meter SATA cable length.

 

It also makes it very easy to disconnect the second case, just pull the single SAS cable.

 

This can be done without a lot of money, especially if you already have the case, and it's very reliable, IMO the most reliable option, other external options like USB and e-SATA with port multipliers should be avoid as it's just a mater of time you'll run into issues.

 

Ah, the DIY version of my setup. Would have gone this route if these parts were readily available at my locality. as it was it cost me a pretty penny to get my parts shipped from else where. but I might go this route if parts were available.