HAF 932 stuffing the maximum amount of HDDs in it

[Wade88]

I had a HAF 932 from 2012 collecting dust in the attic when my wife finally deigned to back her stuff up after a pcie ssd crapped out. This lined up with my old synology from 2013 full of 4TB disks running out of space (5 bay). The HAF 932 has 5 hdd slots, I ordered 5 12TB wd red pros and stuffed my old x99 system in it then removed it ahead of the answer to this question.

There are 6 5.25" bays in this case, I haven't used a 5.25" drive in a long time, only a few USB and card reader things that aren't applicable to this application. Would the toolless drive system in the 932 preclude the use of those 3x 5.25 bay to 4x 3.5 bays with 120mm fan space in the front adapters? I don't mind dremeling, bandsawing, circular sawing, hole sawing, etc. The room it's going in is has a steel door frame and door with two locks to keep my wily younger family members and German Shepherd dogs from getting in there and mucking up all the computers. I prefer towers because they're easier to schlep downstairs to the dining room table for major surgery w/o tools to remove crap from a rack, plus no horrible screaming tiny fans.

13 disks would be plenty

 

[Zepher]

I think I had 9 drives in mine, one was in a 5-1/4 to 3.5" hot swap cage, the kind that just has the slot for a bare 3.5" drive.

the bay under the DVD drive in this pic is the same kind I had in the 932

I did buy these ICY Dock 5 in 3 bays for my old YY-0221 case a few weeks ago, pop in 2 of these and you can hold 15 drives in the HAF-932.
Might have to flatten the tabs in the bay of the case if they stick inwards as these ICY Dock cages are smooth along the sides.
And you would just remove all of the tool less locks and just use the ones to hold the bays in place.

My bays use trays, if you don't want sleds, this one is trayless,
https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Enclosure-Internal-SST-FS305-12G/dp/B07ZWK1337

and the ones I bought which I paid $116 each when they were sold by Amazon UK which isn't listed anymore.
https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-MB155SP-B-Hot-Swap-Backplane/dp/B00DWHLFMA

I just re-read your post and I think you were asking about these guys, right?
https://www.amazon.com/BEYST-Stainless-Adapter-Bracket-Computer/dp/B08B841WGQ

 

[Wade88]

Thanks, I greatly prefer trays/caddies/sleds. there seem to be many, many chinese brands of those adapters. Yes I meant for internal, all in one box to schlep downstairs or to the shop when I don't have time to screw with it.

 

[Wade88]

Someone else suggested the Fractal Define 7 XL, that thing fits quite a lot of disks so if I decide to make an array of > 5 disks that is probably what I will do.

 

[Krispy Kritter]

I'm using the IcyDock 5n3 bays as well. I have 2 in my current media server (which is getting rebuilt this weekend and will no longer be used) and a NIB spare. You need good airflow to control drive temps, aside from that, I've had zero issues .