Travel NAS, rack case in flight case

[Ponpont]

Hi,

I'm a professional filmmaker and I'm looking to build a NAS in a flight case for easy editing and reliable storage on remote locations.

Velcro SSDs behind the laptop screen is handy but such a mess afterwards.

 

So I'm planning using a Micro ATX ASRock Rack X570D4U-2L2T motherboard and 4x to 8x 3,5" HDD (14To)

I was considering the Corsair 380T, but It lacks spaces for 3,5" drives

 

 

Then I stumble upon DJ Rack Flight Case as of Thomann Rack Case 3U https://www.thomann.de/intl/thomann_rack_case_3u.htm and found it will match my needs

 

It is 420mm max deep so I'm looking for a short 3U case that can fit consumer components like SFX or ATX PSU, 120mm fans, up to 8x 3,5" drives and potentially 7 pcie bracket to put a vertical bracket for a GPU like Fractal Design Flex B-20.

 

I found RackPc Chassis D314 3u Short Rackmount Case USB3, but I wonder if there is other available options here as it lacks some extensions needed

 

 

Many thanks for your help !

Edited November 20, 2020 by Ponpont

[Hoopster]

4 hours ago, Ponpont said:

I'm looking for a short 3U case that can fit consumer components

Supermicro has many 3U chassis.  Check out their 3U page to see the specs of their offerings.

[ramblinreck47]

Are you going to keep your 3.5” drives inside the case while transporting?

Edited November 20, 2020 by ramblinreck47

[Ponpont]

2 hours ago, Hoopster said:

Supermicro has many 3U chassis.  Check out their 3U page to see the specs of their offerings.

They all seems way too long and they can't fit consumer PSU (server grade one are way too loud or maybe I'm wrong)

 

1 hour ago, ramblinreck47 said:

Are you going to keep your 3.5” drives inside the case while transporting?

Yes absolutely, so grommets on drives and carefull transportation needed

Edited November 20, 2020 by Ponpont

[ramblinreck47]

25 minutes ago, Ponpont said:

Yes absolutely, so grommets on drives and carefull transportation needed

If your data is sensitive and valuable, I wouldn't transport 3.5" spinning hard drives like that. If you want some flexibility and ruggedness, it would be worth your while to use SSD's and have spinning drives for backups at an offsite, stationary location. It'll significantly lower the weight of your system as well as require far less room.

[Hoopster]

28 minutes ago, Ponpont said:

They all seems way too long and they can't fit consumer PSU (server grade one are way too loud or maybe I'm wrong)

Yeah, I did not look at specs just saw they had quite a few 3U cases.

 

Here's one from Monoprice.

 

It's short and takes standard PSUs; however, only 4 internal 3.5 HDDs.  The 2 5.25" bays can be converted to 3 x 3.5" HDDs with an adapter like this.

 

I do agree with Ramblinreck47 about transporting hard drives, but, that is up to you and your needs.