Storage Solutions Recommendation for a Case for HDDs

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Arya

Forerunner
Looking to build a NAS with with all the disks i have collected over these years. I have rest of the hardware (CPU, mobo, PSU etc). This will be a low power NAS for plex storage, some work and other data I don't want to delete. No transcoding, VM, docker etc on it.

All cases I see these days are tuned for SSDs. I am looking for a case that has a lot of HDD (3.5) bays. Preferably with good airflow. 12 will be ideal, I can live with 8 bays though.

My other options are buying a used Dell R510 but I don't want to keep a noisy machine at home. Best would be finding a 4U case with hot swap disks. Something like Rosewill RSV-L4412 - 4U will be ideal but I can't find it anywhere. Last option is buying from Ali Express which I want to avoid. Both because of China and it getting stuck in customs. (I know everything is made in China :) )

Any suggestions are welcome. TIA.
 
Thanks @CyberGhost will keep that as backup. @rajil.s Which store stocks fractal design cases. They look good for sure but out of stock mostly. These are other cases I am looking at:

Phanteks 719 - May need extra disk cages for it

Antec P9 - This is not available anywhere though
 
@Arya PrimeAGBG used to carry them. I was using the Rosewill chassis but I had random filesystem corruption and had to scrub (ZFS) every few days. So, i stopped using it.
 
I read about that too. Apparently the backplane was faulty and fried some people's drives too. What kind of setup are you using now?

I think I'll go with Define 7 XL. Price is little higher than I was looking for but this fits the bill best. It comes with 6 x 3.5 and 2 x 2.5 trays. Checked with Fractal support and they said that additional trays are not available due to covid and will be available in future. Good enough for me to start though. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Whats is your budget?
its tough getting a decent case with 12x3.25 inch bays. More often that not, you will need to add bays to it.

Also, what city are you in?
 
I am in Ahmedabad. I was hoping to spend under 15k for a desktop case. 20 for a 4U case. But Looks like that will not happen. As long as I get the additional trays in future, Fractal Define 7 XL (18k) works very well. Saw a video from linus where he managed to fit in 19. I'll probably stop at 12. I may buy a new disk for unraid parity but thats it.
 
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This is more or less an issue with every case with a budget in mind, and COVID19 has done nothing short of exacerbating it.

For tower - I would suggest to pick up normal cases which can do 5x3 or 4x3 3.5" HDDs and get those cages. Cabling may be a mess, but it's a one time activity. Cooling may be a problem, but with proper cooling you could get away with it.

For rack, since you are in AMD, why dont you speak to some of the enterprise vendors and look for old stock which they want to dispose or equivalent. I do know that prior to COVID19, AIS (Mumbai) had offered me a deal on some chassis.

Additionally, if going used - I do know that there was this DC company in Jaipur which had put up some good used stuff. You could ask around.

Coming to backplanes - they are a hit and miss and we need to look at forums like STH to get an idea of what may work and not! I prefer to avoid using them for complex setups, and wire the stuff directly, even if it is a complete mess.
 
I gave up on finding a server case. I tried with some used server vendors. Some had supermicro chassis but way too big for my need. I needed a half rack one. Couple of them told me my needs are too specific :)

Ordered Define 7 XL. It is a bit of overkill and probably Define 7 would have been fine. But I prefer to have a bit of spare space. Cooling would be better too. Comes with space for 8x3.5" and 2 x 2.5 ssd. Additional trays are not available right now but fractal design support said it will be available later.
 
Arya said:
I gave up on finding a server case. I tried with some used server vendors. Some had supermicro chassis but way too big for my need. I needed a half rack one. Couple of them told me my needs are too specific :)

Ordered Define 7 XL. It is a bit of overkill and probably Define 7 would have been fine. But I prefer to have a bit of spare space. Cooling would be better too. Comes with space for 8x3.5" and 2 x 2.5 ssd. Additional trays are not available right now but fractal design support said it will be available later.
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Can you share the details of the supermicro chassis (vendor details, model and cost).

Supermicro chassis are generally quite well built. However they are generally noisy as well. If you have a separate room for a rack and is well ventilated nothing beats Supermicro.

I am pleasantly surprised that Supermicro is available at all in India.
 
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