New chassis for home machine

[fishie]

Hi guys,

Im on the hunt for a new chassis for my home server, im currently running it in a Fractal Design Define R4, however im having lots of issues with ressonance (spelling?) and i cannot seem to get a handle on it!

Pretty basic requirements, i need it to be sturdy, as little shaking as possible!

Hold up to 10 drives, i currently have 9 on my Fractal, however im going to swap out some older drives for new ones pretty soon.

AND! It can't be a rack mountable chassis as i don't have any place to put that one, it is only interesting if the pros are greater than the cons.

Can someone help me out?

 

[Deleted member 126051]

Have you thought about simply retrofitting the case with some silicone gaskets around the PSU and fans?

And maybe installing some acoustical deadening material on the side panels, bottom and top where you don't have any fans/rads?

http://www.amazon.com/140mm-Anti-Vibration-Silicone-Fan-Gasket/dp/B006K2S8E2

And, if you have a radiator:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NODDK5W/

And for your PSU:

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Noise-Killer-Silicone-Gasket/dp/B0000BVV2L

Also, silicone fan fastners to further isolate the fan, mechanically, from the case:

http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Pieces-Rubber-Mounting-Screws/dp/B00H9905KA

The gaskets will deaden mechanical noise (vibration), and the sound deadening material should help reduce the sonic footprint of the case still more.

http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-21-Inch-Dampening-Acoustic-SF01/dp/B0040JHMH6

 

[fishie]

Im not actually that annoyed by the "noise" from the machine, if all harddrives are off i can not hear it in any way.

The case i already have has dampening in it.

The main issue here, is the vibrations from the harddrives that make the sucker load as hell, and its actaully possible to feel the vibrations in the floor if you stand next to it, as the machine is located directly above our bedroom it's not really that awesome, especially if the drives come on during the night

No ideas for a towercase that can hold 10+ drives?

 

[zaniix]

If you have the lock down screws for the drive cages like the R5 that might help.

You already have a solid case so if its vibration through the floor you might think about putting something under the case that would lessen the vibration like a Yoga mat

As for good cases with lots of internal drives, well the best solution might be using 5 in 3 hotswap drive cages in any case that will allow you 6 external 5.25s, but assuming that isnt what you want you could use
Antec nineteen hundred http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129200

 

[Deleted member 126051]

There are also hard drive mounting solutions that help dampen the vibration the drives send to the drive cage and then to the case.

 

[cyclone3d]

Sounds to me like you have one or more drives that are severely out of balance.

I had a WD Blue 320GB once that vibrated really badly. It died a short time later.

I opened it up to see what had happened and the platter was so warped that it had worn down the plastic piece that the heads park on. Once it wore it down far enough it trashed the heads and that was the end of that drive.

Unless there is something wrong with a drive, it should not vibrate that much at all. even 10k drives should not vibrate enough to feel the vibration on the floor, especially if you are already using vibration dampening mounts.

 

[rsq]

You could defragment your data to reduce seeks.

You could go for more RAM to buffer the writes/reads. This tends to turn random writes into sequential writes. (see transaction groups of ZFS)

You could hang the case from these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PAIR-of-1...-luggage-or-bike-rack-FREE-POST-/200694064813

You could use 3 of these: http://www.coolermaster.com/case/case-accessories/4-in-3-device-module/ in 1 of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bigtower-Sharkoon-Rebel-Economy-Edition-schwarz/dp/B0010SITB8 for up to 12 drives (I used to have that, but now I rackmount everything)

 

[HeavensCloud]

I agree with everyone here. I think your case it fine, unless you are really looking to change it. As for the noise through the floor you could throw one or two appropriately fitting rubber mats underneath it to isolate it from the floor. Example.