I'm looking to build a NAS unit. I don't expect this case to exist, but I am hoping I am wrong and one of you has seenone:
1. Small. mini-ITX.
2. Many 3.5" drive bays... perhaps 8.
3. Enough space for two adapters. SATA ports, Wifi adapter.
I have not seen an elegant design and suspect either the market just is not there for such a unit, or the packaging would be too difficult. Eight WD GP drives don't need a ton of active cooling, and a mini-ITX running an efficient CPU is going to be enough to run WHS or FreeNAS or OpenSolaris without difficulty. One PCI or PCIe slot for flexibility (say, a wireless adapter) and one PCI or PCIe for a controller.
Basically, I'm trying to see what it would take to replicate a Drobo Pro for personal use in a somewhat similar form factor.
I know exactly how I'd do it if size were not a constraint. What I have not seen is an enclosure tailor made to this application, e.g. not much empty space, tight drive packing, no 5.25" drive bay nonsense, etc.
Suggestions?
1. Small. mini-ITX.
2. Many 3.5" drive bays... perhaps 8.
3. Enough space for two adapters. SATA ports, Wifi adapter.
I have not seen an elegant design and suspect either the market just is not there for such a unit, or the packaging would be too difficult. Eight WD GP drives don't need a ton of active cooling, and a mini-ITX running an efficient CPU is going to be enough to run WHS or FreeNAS or OpenSolaris without difficulty. One PCI or PCIe slot for flexibility (say, a wireless adapter) and one PCI or PCIe for a controller.
Basically, I'm trying to see what it would take to replicate a Drobo Pro for personal use in a somewhat similar form factor.
I know exactly how I'd do it if size were not a constraint. What I have not seen is an enclosure tailor made to this application, e.g. not much empty space, tight drive packing, no 5.25" drive bay nonsense, etc.
Suggestions?
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