Do-it-yourself 5in3 racks (DIY)

[jjw3579]

As someone who has worked with high current DC power supplies, I feel I should point out that a 7200 RPM drive pulls 3 to 7 Amps when spinning up. With 10 drives in your cable, you have the potential for 30 to 70 amps to be passing through the lower segment. Those wires are usually 18 or 16 gauge if you are lucky, and you are exceeding the safe amperage rating for that by 200 to 300%. Those wires should really be more like 10 or 8 gauge.

 

Now, obviously, you aren't pulling that load all the time, and there is a duty cycle involved, but those wires will be trying to carry that current if you spin up all the drives at once.

 

Not to mention that Molex drive connector is rated for about 8 amps if it's a good one, and you could be asking it to do 70..

[SSD]

Thanks for the warning. I was concerned about this as well at first. But all of my drives are green, which helps keep the amps down. My wires are the thicker variety (16 gauge), and I have held the molex in my hand (carefully avoiding touching anything else) during bootup, spinup of all drives, and during a parity check and observed no heat at all.  None.

 

I was prepared to cut my splitter in two and run 2x5 ports, but based on this decided not to. Splitter has not given any trouble.

[Furby8704]

i just did my own 5 in 3. i think it came out better than i thought.

i used some old cd/dvd rom casings

 

i also took the time to mark the drives and organize them

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/FURBY8704/PhotoMar2395407PM.jpg[/img]

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/FURBY8704/PhotoMar23111821PM.jpg[/img]

[PeterB]

Not to mention that Molex drive connector is rated for about 8 amps if it's a good one, and you could be asking it to do 70..

 

The spec for the Molex is 11 amps per pole, but as the contacts age, the resistance increases, reducing the safe capacity.  It's worth smearing your molex contacts with a little petroleum jelly, or genuine contact lubricant.

[mpalpha]

I bought a gutter guard from Home Depot, Used a screwdriver and tin snips to build my 3 5x3 cages, I mounted them to the drive caddy that came with the ZALMAN MS800 case.

 

total cost: under $3

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Amerimax-Home-Products-6-in-x-36-in-Hinged-Gutter-Guard-Unpainted-85280BX/100002884

[thuy-nam]

It very nice share.

I wish to have templace with 4 hdd in 1 tray, i thing it better ventilation.

With 14cm fan in front to bring cool air, and rubber gasket to prevent vibration of hdd.

Thanks

[methanoid]

I love that DIY 5x3 project!  Definitely a cost saver, and looks great!  Please post some pictures with drives included and installed in your case when you have time.

 

You may have already seen this in my "Pimp Your Rig" post, but if not, below is a much less ambitious DIY approach which may work in some situations. 

 

What you give up with these types of solutions is the ability to exchange disks without opening the case.  While that may sound like a convenience factor only, truth is if you have a drive failure and then have to take the compulter apart, you risk knocking a connection loose (which is very easy to do), and then you're trying to diagnose that while your array is in a non-protected state.  So ... (since the pictures below were taken) I have added 2 5x3 cages to the top of my case (I still use this 10 drive DIY rack).  Now, if I ever have a drive fail in this rack, I can add the new disk to one of the 5x3s (I always leave a slot open for preclears or an emergency rebuild) to do the rebuild.  Then I can deal with pulling the failed disk at my convenience once the array is healthy.  Not as good as having all removable cages, but quite a bit more economical!  (An unused external eSATA port can also provide this type of functionality without buying a hot swap bay).  Always good to have a plan to do a drive rebuild without cracking open the case!

 

From "Pimp Your Rig" post:

 

In order to mount all my drives I designed and built a custom 10 drive cage using aluminum strips and right angle pieces.  Here are pictures while it was under construction and mounted inside the case.  This case is cavernous inside providing lots of room for this.

 

 

Closer look at the drive cage - if you look closely you'll see the edges of the three fans on the right.  The zipties make it easier to remove the cage when needed.

 

Can U repost pics pls... The Google cache images are too small... This looks like exactly what I was planning