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Hi there. It's been a long time since I've done any modding, but this was a fun minor project so I thought I'd share it with you. I had an old HTPC itx motherboard and power supply I wasn't using anymore, having replaced it with a ShieldTV. I figured I should actually put it to some use. My original plan went off the rails because somehow after 30 years of playing with computers I neglected to ever measure the width of either a 5.25" bay (5.75" wide!) or a 3.5" bay (4" wide!). In retrospect, those values are based on the disc size, not the bay, but I digress.
In any case, I bought a new Icy Gear 3-bay trayless hotswap and short 2U server case. I assembled everything, and realized it'd be non-ideal for install where I planned, on my very tiny 4U rack mounted in my closet.
First setup:
![20170621_183233[1].jpg](https://cdn.hardforum.com/data/attachment-files/2017/06/82916_20170621_1832331.jpg "20170621_183233[1].jpg")
I wanted to try something different, so I checked the clearances and found swapping the locations of the drive bays and power supply to be a manageable mod, so I set to work jigging and filing and drilling. My install went well. Now both the motherboard ports and the hotswap bays faced the same direction.
![20170623_180114[1].jpg](https://cdn.hardforum.com/data/attachment-files/2017/06/82917_20170623_1801141.jpg "20170623_180114[1].jpg")
Next I needed a way to mount the power and drive access LEDs and power button. Luckily the reset button was the perfect size to fit into the bottom of a card slot, so I just bent the bottom of the slot filler, drilled the holes out for the leds, and done.
![20170624_092243[1].jpg](https://cdn.hardforum.com/data/attachment-files/2017/06/82918_20170624_0922431.jpg "20170624_092243[1].jpg")
I didn't quite have adequate depth in my 4U rack, so I had to mount my rackmount brackets a couple inches back from the new front of the case for it to work. Luckily there were already sliding rail mount screw holes in the right spot, so one extra hole and the rails were mounted.
All cosy in my closet with my NAS, that's now happy to be just a file-store again. I was trying to run Sickrage and sabnzbd on it but it really dragged down the tiny slow ARM cpu.
![20170624_101114[1].jpg](https://cdn.hardforum.com/data/attachment-files/2017/06/82919_20170624_1011141.jpg "20170624_101114[1].jpg")
I may swap around my devices, use the server as my file host, and the NAS as my dedicated backup. Not sure yet. Anyway, hope you found this interesting.
In any case, I bought a new Icy Gear 3-bay trayless hotswap and short 2U server case. I assembled everything, and realized it'd be non-ideal for install where I planned, on my very tiny 4U rack mounted in my closet.
First setup:
I wanted to try something different, so I checked the clearances and found swapping the locations of the drive bays and power supply to be a manageable mod, so I set to work jigging and filing and drilling. My install went well. Now both the motherboard ports and the hotswap bays faced the same direction.
Next I needed a way to mount the power and drive access LEDs and power button. Luckily the reset button was the perfect size to fit into the bottom of a card slot, so I just bent the bottom of the slot filler, drilled the holes out for the leds, and done.
I didn't quite have adequate depth in my 4U rack, so I had to mount my rackmount brackets a couple inches back from the new front of the case for it to work. Luckily there were already sliding rail mount screw holes in the right spot, so one extra hole and the rails were mounted.
All cosy in my closet with my NAS, that's now happy to be just a file-store again. I was trying to run Sickrage and sabnzbd on it but it really dragged down the tiny slow ARM cpu.
I may swap around my devices, use the server as my file host, and the NAS as my dedicated backup. Not sure yet. Anyway, hope you found this interesting.
