japilch Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 some advice please - I put my server together in a coolermaster elite 335 , however from a hard drive perspective it is a little cramped inside . I have looked at the corsair carbide series 500r as a replacement . any thoughts? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 The Carbide is a very nice case with excellent cooling for the drives (2 front fans blowing directly across them). Quote Link to comment
dalben Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I'm looking for an external storage case to add to my server. I keep the server in a place that doesn't allow a much larger case and ventilation isn't great. The idea is to split out some of the disks in my main case to improve cooling and also give me room for expansion. I was looking at this: http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/ex-50/ Nice looking case with the bells and whistles. My question to those who have a better understanding. What would I need to purchase (other than the hard disks of which I have plenty lying around) to have this case hooked up to my server ? Do I need another SATA card ? or can I run one of my current SATA cables to an eSATA and connect from there ? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 My understanding of the EX-50 (from reading the manual) is that it implements RAID internally, and you simply connect it via an eSATA port, where it will "look" like a big drive (equal to the storage on the RAID level you've selected). It does, however, have a "port multiplier" option, where I believe the drives will show up independently as long as your SATA controller supports port multipliers. Whether or not UnRAID would work with this specific port multiplier I simply don't know -- perhaps somebody has actually tried this and can confirm that. I'd expect it to work fine -- but you don't want to buy it and find out otherwise Since you don't need the RAID functionality, I'd be inclined to buy this instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111177 Quote Link to comment
dalben Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Yeah, that looks less complicated. Just need to see if I can get it where I am. I assume I would need to also purchase a SATA port multipler that deals with eSATA. I'll troll the threads here to see what's recommend. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I assume I would need to also purchase a SATA port multipler that deals with eSATA. No, it's got a port multiplier included. What you DO need is an eSATA port that supports port multipliers. If your PC doesn't have one, then you'll need to add a card that provides that. Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Look on newegg, they have a few models that have the chassis with a raid card. While you do not need raid, chances are you can use it in jbod mode, but noo guarantee with unRAID. you have to find out the chipset on the card. some of the Asmedia 6G chipsets work. I purchased this one. SANS DIGITAL TR4UTBPN 4Bay USB 3.0 / eSATA Hardware RAID 5 Tower RAID Enclosure (no eSATA card bundled) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111149 Granted it has raid in it already, it supports usb and esata so it's probably more then what is needed. I purchased in the event it was repurposed. and I've repurposed it a few times to do different things. I use it with my HP Micro servers. Scour that thread for the controllers I used with it. Quote Link to comment
starcat Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Anyone used the U-NAS cases already and especially the 8x case? Putting a CHENBRO 84H323210-017 in the mainboard opening and an expander on it will basically make a DAS out of it and allow for daisy-chaining and expansions. Looks really nice, especially with the properly sized and mounted 120mm fans behind the drives. Quote Link to comment
kitono Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 What does everyone think about this case? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038 It looks like the perfect and cheap rackmount solution? Please let me know your thoughts... Quote Link to comment
eroz Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 What does everyone think about this case? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038 It looks like the perfect and cheap rackmount solution? Please let me know your thoughts... Read here. Quote Link to comment
RamHawk Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 This 15-bay eSATA enclosure looks really nice: http://www.istarusa.com/raidage/products.php?model=DAGE1540-PM#.VPTh4_nF98E And their 10-bay eSATA version: http://www.istarusa.com/raidage/products.php?model=DAGE1040-PM#.VPThy_nF98E Nice small / compact cabinets to house additional drives. I may go this route when I build my 2nd unRAID system. Easier to move 2 or 3 smaller chassis than 1 large tower with 25 drives. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Those are indeed very nice looking enclosures that make it very simple to add a significant number of drives to a server. They'd be an excellent choice for bumping up the drive count of a mini-ITX box. However ... be sure you understand the performance implications of the port multipliers => these boxes connect 5 drives to each of their SATA connections using a built-in port multiplier. This will have a notable performance impact on operations that use multiple drives at once ... e.g. parity syncs, parity checks, and drive rebuilds. For normal operations they'd have no impact. Quote Link to comment
Whaler_99 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 My thoughts, a little much for what they are. In reality that is 3 of their standard 5x3 cages, in a custom enclosure, with a PSU and some multiplexers. I looked around, not many places selling it, but one place had it for $845. What?? Think of it, you could get an Antec 900, 3 of the 3x5 cages, your PSU and a SuperMicro 8 port card and probably still be ahead by a few. Yes, a bit more room, but still, if you have some mITX build currently and you need 15x more drives, maybe you should look at a bigger case anyways. For what it is, just way to much money. And as mentioned, parity check speeds would be horrible on this. And wonder about streaming two or three HD movies from one eSATA port? Don't think it have the bandwidth for that either. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Hadn't noted the pricing, but that is indeed a bit much. Other than the parity sync/check and rebuild bandwidth limitations, however, I don't think performance is an issue. Even streaming 2-3 simultaneous HD movies from one SATA port isn't an issue => the SATA port speed (600MB/s since the ports are SATA-III) is plenty for as many movies as you might want to stream. Any streaming constraints would be due to network bandwidth long before the SATA interface speed came into play. Quote Link to comment
ajgoyt Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 not the greatest for being reviewed by other websites..... but i have seen this in person at Frys and i do like the room it has .... your thoughts on this big case? can be had on Newegg for 159 http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=706725&fid=4&lan=us Quote Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 not the greatest for being reviewed by other websites..... but i have seen this in person at Frys and i do like the room it has .... your thoughts on this big case? can be had on Newegg for 159 http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=706725&fid=4&lan=us I'd rather use 3x5 hard drive cages since you only need to use two power connections to power 5 drives. What a cable nightmare if you had that case full of drives. I'm still on the hunt for a large case with the ability to take 3 3x5 hard drive cages and have some room for maybe 1 or 2 SSD drives or temp drive. I do want to keep the price around $200. I saw the Lian-Li case, PC-A79 but read the reviews on Newegg which turned me off. I'm really looking into the CoolerMaster Storm Trooper case. I need to find out if you can remove the black panels that block you from inserting a HD cage and mount them to the side of the case so you have somewhere to mount the cages. Quote Link to comment
reefcrazed Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Still rocking my Lian-Li PC-D8000, I just added more ram, I think it is sitting at 104gb which is a strange number to end up with. Quote Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Very cool looking case, but way overkill for what I need. Heck, the only thing you can't do is install two motherboards in there. I'm slowly finding out any case I buy and want to use hard drive cages with with need some modification. Even if you have a clear empty hole with 9 external drives could fit you still need to bang down those metal tabs. At least from all the visual's that's what I noticed. I remember having to bang them all down on my Coolermaster 590 case which isn't sold anymore, but I want a larger box anyway. Quote Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Found a cheap case that will work with cages, but still need to bang down all the metal lips, which is a pain to do. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517006&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= I've included a picture to show you what I mean. Quote Link to comment
switchman Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 @opentoe Depending on where you are, Newegg just had the Antec 1200 on sale for US$124, plus a $20 rebate. I never count on rebates. I just checked and it is back up to $170. I currently have the 900 case and you can put in 3 3x5 cages. There is no extra room though. Depending on the motherboard, it can be a tight squeeze to get sata cables installed. I ordered one of the 1200s as I have come to the opinion large towers that can accommodate 4 3x5 cages are getting scarce and expensive. If you have the room and have not purchased your cages, then a Norco 4220 is the best bang for the buck in my opinion. You could always build a wood platform with 2x4's and turn it sideways. Also there is a Ikea unit for ~$20 I think that some people are using as a rack. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N3956&cm_re=antec_hundred-_-11-129-100-_-Product 4220 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219033 4224 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038 - With a 15% of discount code, SERV15FFPRMO, you can get this case for 354.44 shipped. This is a great deal. I think this is the IKEA stand http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/44361109/ To bend the tabs, use a Deep throat C-clamp. One like this. http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-deep-throat-c-clamp-45917.html. They are worth it. Quote Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 @opentoe Depending on where you are, Newegg just had the Antec 1200 on sale for US$124, plus a $20 rebate. I never count on rebates. I just checked and it is back up to $170. I currently have the 900 case and you can put in 3 3x5 cages. There is no extra room though. Depending on the motherboard, it can be a tight squeeze to get sata cables installed. I ordered one of the 1200s as I have come to the opinion large towers that can accommodate 4 3x5 cages are getting scarce and expensive. If you have the room and have not purchased your cages, then a Norco 4220 is the best bang for the buck in my opinion. You could always build a wood platform with 2x4's and turn it sideways. Also there is a Ikea unit for ~$20 I think that some people are using as a rack. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N3956&cm_re=antec_hundred-_-11-129-100-_-Product 4220 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219033 4224 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038 - With a 15% of discount code, SERV15FFPRMO, you can get this case for 354.44 shipped. This is a great deal. I think this is the IKEA stand http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/44361109/ To bend the tabs, use a Deep throat C-clamp. One like this. http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-deep-throat-c-clamp-45917.html. They are worth it. I've tried the Norco rack mount units before and hated them. Too big, ugly and just not my cup of tea. I looked at the Antec 1200, but leaning more towards the Cooler Master Trooper. It is a larger case, deeper and roomier and less expensive. Has all the fans I would need so I think that will be the one. The C-clamp idea is good. When I had to bend all my CM 590 tabs down the metal in that case was thicker (all cases were made heavier and thicker metal years ago) and I had was a small hammer at the time. I'll manage somehow. This is the one I'm going to give a shot. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119297&cm_re=coolermaster_trooper-_-11-119-297-_-Product p.s. I usually miss out on sales so I don't even look for them anymore. Quote Link to comment
Whaler_99 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 @opentoe Depending on where you are, Newegg just had the Antec 1200 on sale for US$124, plus a $20 rebate. I never count on rebates. I just checked and it is back up to $170. I currently have the 900 case and you can put in 3 3x5 cages. There is no extra room though. Depending on the motherboard, it can be a tight squeeze to get sata cables installed. I ordered one of the 1200s as I have come to the opinion large towers that can accommodate 4 3x5 cages are getting scarce and expensive. If you have the room and have not purchased your cages, then a Norco 4220 is the best bang for the buck in my opinion. You could always build a wood platform with 2x4's and turn it sideways. Also there is a Ikea unit for ~$20 I think that some people are using as a rack. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N3956&cm_re=antec_hundred-_-11-129-100-_-Product 4220 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219033 4224 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038 - With a 15% of discount code, SERV15FFPRMO, you can get this case for 354.44 shipped. This is a great deal. I think this is the IKEA stand http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/44361109/ To bend the tabs, use a Deep throat C-clamp. One like this. http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-deep-throat-c-clamp-45917.html. They are worth it. I've tried the Norco rack mount units before and hated them. Too big, ugly and just not my cup of tea. I looked at the Antec 1200, but leaning more towards the Cooler Master Trooper. It is a larger case, deeper and roomier and less expensive. Has all the fans I would need so I think that will be the one. The C-clamp idea is good. When I had to bend all my CM 590 tabs down the metal in that case was thicker (all cases were made heavier and thicker metal years ago) and I had was a small hammer at the time. I'll manage somehow. This is the one I'm going to give a shot. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119297&cm_re=coolermaster_trooper-_-11-119-297-_-Product p.s. I usually miss out on sales so I don't even look for them anymore. The Antec 1200 is actually larger - the Trooper only has 9 x 5.25 versus the Antec's 12 x 5.25. Plus the "cages" already in the Trooper may not allow you to add 5x3 cages. Not sure. The Antec 1200 is a lot roomier inside as well. Probably one of the best cases for unRaid builds. I love mine. The only issue is no casters for it and it weighs a ton with everything installed. Quote Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Hey good news! The Antec 1200 (twelve hundred V3) dropped back down to $119 with a $20 rebate card on Newegg so I jumped on it. Just yesterday it was $170. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100&cm_re=antec_twelve_hundred_v3-_-11-129-100-_-Product Quote Link to comment
Whaler_99 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Hey good news! The Antec 1200 (twelve hundred V3) dropped back down to $119 with a $20 rebate card on Newegg so I jumped on it. Just yesterday it was $170. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100&cm_re=antec_twelve_hundred_v3-_-11-129-100-_-Product Why o why US only?!?! <sniff> At a hundred bucks that is an amazing price on an amazing case. Quote Link to comment
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