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Suggestions on a rackmount disk storage chassis?

R

raiderj

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2011
Messages
339
I've grown beyond my current cases for the number of drives they hold, so I'd like to look at getting a rackmount disk chassis that I can connect via SFF-8088 to my server. Not looking to spend a ton of money, as I don't need an exceptional amount of performance. Mostly looking for convenience in handling more drives.

What I'm looking for is a 3/4U chassis that is no more than 20" deep, can hold 16+ hotswappable drives, and can connect to my ZFS file server. Best I've found so far is a ~$200, 3U, 16 drive chassis on ebay. The limiting factor on the chassis is the 3Gbps connector (SFF-8088). I've read that the fans are loud, but can be replaced.

From looking around the web, I can find better chassis, but none that aren't at least a couple hundred dollars more expensive and are over 20" in length. Curious if anyone here has something better in mind.
 
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The SE3016 is the best solution from what I have found. I have 2 of them and they work great. The fans are not to loud but I stll upgraded them to be super quite. Here are pics of my modded SE3013 http://imgur.com/a/8CI02
 
Nice! do you have those fans pushing or pulling? Curious with the added CFM if you found one direction preferable over another.
 
I have the fans setup as an exhaust because I have the cases mounted in the front of my rack. These cases are made to be able to mount back-to-back in a rack, so in that setup the rear case would have to have the fans reverse.
 
So is this external box ready to go? Just connect it to a RAID controller with suitable external ports and that's that? Price is pretty damn good. Am actually local to them; wonder if they do will call pickup?
 
Yes the SE3016 is just plug and play. I love them because you can daisy chain them together when you need more and do not have any free sas ports on your raid card.

Send them a message, I did a local pick up from ebay before, you have to let them know before you buy it so they can take the shipping off the price.
 
Thanks for the info! I like the idea of adding some larger fans to the mix, as most of my equipment is in my office and needs to be relatively quiet.
 
Picked up one of the enclosures! NES International has a website now, and I ordered direct from them and was able to get free shipping. Should be sent out via UPS ground today. Picked up a replacement 40mm fan and some SAS cables from Newegg to complete the build.
 
raiderj said:
Picked up one of the enclosures! NES International has a website now, and I ordered direct from them and was able to get free shipping. Should be sent out via UPS ground today. Picked up a replacement 40mm fan and some SAS cables from Newegg to complete the build.
Click to expand...

you should read http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1666401&highlight=se3016

that the first se3016 thread and a lot of discussion.

I have one, bought 180 total 2 years ago,and not used it as now.

1) PSU is old and pull much watts,
you can replace PSU, the cable is mirrored standard psu cable

2) replace 80mm fans with 120mm fans (800-1000 rpms)

3) if you insist using original PSU, replace 40mm fan.,

this is sas1 expander that I had some issue with my HBA cards. I only got 1.5 speed on my sata HDs.

if you dont mind spending extra $. supermicro 3U or 4U with gold PSU and SAS2 backplane would be a good candidate for a long run.
 
cantalup said:
you should read http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1666401&highlight=se3016

that the first se3016 thread and a lot of discussion.

I have one, bought 180 total 2 years ago,and not used it as now.

1) PSU is old and pull much watts,
you can replace PSU, the cable is mirrored standard psu cable

2) replace 80mm fans with 120mm fans (800-1000 rpms)

3) if you insist using original PSU, replace 40mm fan.,

this is sas1 expander that I had some issue with my HBA cards. I only got 1.5 speed on my sata HDs.

if you dont mind spending extra $. supermicro 3U or 4U with gold PSU and SAS2 backplane would be a good candidate for a long run.
Click to expand...

I already have a few spare 120mm fans, so I plan to use them to replace the 80mm fans. Picked up a new 40mm fan with some additional SAS cables & adapters that I needed. I'm not opposed to swapping the PSU at some point, but for now just having it quieter will be enough.

I already have an M1015 HBA, so adding in a 8087 -> 8088 adapter bracket will work for now. For ~$200 shipped along with the extra parts I needed, this will work as a great expansion for my media/backup server. Performance isn't really an issue - all my VMs run off SSDs tied directly to my motherboard's SAS controller (Supermicro X10SL7-F).

I looked at some of the Supermicro offerings, but for 3x the price and not half-depth, it doesn't work for my current setup. Norco has a nice short-depth 4U 24-bay drive chassis for ~$600, which would be my next step if I end up really needing better performance.
 
you can get $300 + 50 shipping fo super micro server case: sas2 backplane wth 24 bays +1200W gold psu.+ rack rails
it is not 3x price,

supermicro is not short-depth, yap
I started regular atx case, went with se3016 and moved out due on sas1 expander issue.
se3016 PSU is power hunger...:)

sas1 has compatibility issue on my HBA cards :(...
this is the reason I stick with (LSI) SAS2 expander, no issue at all, and all drive detected to the max 6G or 3G correctly.

whatever your choice, enjoy!
 
I have one with an M1015 and no trouble, planning to buy 5 more.

I wouldn't call those fans quiet though, they're the loudest things I've heard since the nvidia 5800FX.

The one in the PSU is just incredible, it pierces the ears.
 
I have the se3016 as well. I didn't mod the fans, but I did replace them with a few SilentX's and, I can barley even hear it now. Only thing I don't like is there's no remote power on. Someone was talking about bridging 2 of the pins, but I couldn't get it to work. I might end up replacing the power supply with a better one. It uses a square connector instead of the normal molex ones as a FYI. Just need to move the cables over.
 
raiderj said:
What HBA are you using? Hoping I don't have any issues with my M1015.
Click to expand...

do not remember exacly. M1015 was OK, not flashed to 9211 IT.

the problem at that time was, not all drives shown-up . some were missing that cause warning on arrays.

as i remember, magically set to 1.5G on sata drives:p.....
 
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