Case for Media Streaming

[StangMan04]

I am rebuilding my old media server that was running Open Indiana. I am only going to have 4 2TB drives in this machine. I am looking for a case that already has hot swappable drive bays or buying a case and 5.25 to 3.5 hot swappable bay trays. Prefer not to spend a ton of money if at all possible. I don't have to have a small case either, it will be sitting on the floor in my spare room.

This machine sits in another room from my HTPC and I am going to stream movies/tv shows from it.

Below are what I currently have.

Cool Master Centurion 5 case (seems a bit small when cabling up my current drives)
EVGA Z68 SLI Micro ATX Motherboard
8GB Memory
250GB SSD for OS (may run a Windows based OS)
(4) 2TB Drives
Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU
Intel i3 2100 3.1GHz

 

[StangMan04]

Looking at getting these:

Hot-swap bay
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994027

New case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

Case is decent since I can remove the HD tray and allow more space. (Getting access to the SATA ports SUCK with them there)

May go a different route on motherboard since my current one only have 2 SATA3 ports and 4 SATA2 ports. Maybe get a ATX board that would put the SATA ports lower in the case for easier access and a board that has 4 SATA3 ports (2 SATA2 ports for OS/DVD drive)

 

[Fritzz]

I had a server similar to this.

Might I suggest going to This instead. From what I could see you have 6 sata connections on your mobo, with the extra slot you could add a 5th storage drive if you wanted, or mount your SSD in the enclosure also. I found having a DVD drive in my server to be even more useless than in my desktop.

Not sure if expansion is in your future, but if you wanted to add a pcie sata card and more drives then a case with more 5.25" bays could allow you to add another Icy Dock bay.

10 - 5.25"

6 - 5.25"

Just some thoughts I went through when building my old server. My current one I ended up going as small as I could while still managing a SSD for OS and 5 HDD in a hot-swap enclosure.

Shameless picture plug

 

[StangMan04]

I had a server similar to this.

Might I suggest going to This instead. From what I could see you have 6 sata connections on your mobo, with the extra slot you could add a 5th storage drive if you wanted, or mount your SSD in the enclosure also. I found having a DVD drive in my server to be even more useless than in my desktop.

Not sure if expansion is in your future, but if you wanted to add a pcie sata card and more drives then a case with more 5.25" bays could allow you to add another Icy Dock bay.

10 - 5.25"

6 - 5.25"

Just some thoughts I went through when building my old server. My current one I ended up going as small as I could while still managing a SSD for OS and 5 HDD in a hot-swap enclosure.

I don't plan on expanding. I do plan to use one of the SATA ports for my SSD. DVD drive will be used temporarily to install my OS. I could not get my USB stick to boot.

I was told on another forum that the failed drive LED won't work since I have a consumer motherboard. So I may just be keeping what I have. Was hoping to have easy drive access and warnings for drive failures, but appears that will not be the case.

Was thinking of getting a board with 4 SATA3 ports since right now I am mixing SATA3 and SATA2. But, that may not be a wise choice since I don't really need the through put for a file server.

 

[Fritzz]

Well sounds like you have your mind made up, at least for now lol!

I would still suggest going with the Icy Dock I linked, for the same price you can get an additional hot swap bay.

Good luck with the change over!