Which full tower case has the most HDD bay?

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ben805

Limp Gawd
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Nov 27, 2006
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Looking for a full tower ATX case with the most SATA HDD bays, majority that I saw only have 5~6 bays, i need something that can hold at least 10, any recommendation?
 
I'm running with the Fractal Define R3 and that has 8 3.5 HDD bays, and there's also 2 5.25 bays, which you can either mount two hdds in those 2 bays or can put an adapter bay in there which can convert the 2 bays into 3 3.5" bays. There's 10/11 bays right there, and I think the XL is a bigger version of the Define, so should be able to hold more
 
Greetings

I have an Antec DF-85 which I use with a boot drive and also have ten HD154UI's in a raid-Z2 configuration. It has nine 3.5" bays behind three fans and the remaining two drives are in the 5.25" bays using metal adapter brackets, the case also has two rear fans and two top fans so there is enough ambient airflow together with conduction via the metal brackets keeping the two drives in the 5.25" bays just as cool. I think 7200 RPM drives placed there should fare just as well. Also you have the 3.5" hot dock on top of the case as well if you want to transfer data quickly to and from your server via an SSD or laptop drive. The case is readily available at a reasonable price as well, in addition it permits you to put in an Antec CP-850 power supply if you want that as well which I highly recommend as it's relatively cheap and supposedly is made by Delta Electronics which also made the Antec Signature power supply and is extremely quiet, see here for more info.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article971-page7.html

Cheers
 
I'm actually in the process of upgrading my file server. This is the case I got. It arrived last night. :)



It has a 24 drive capacity using the LianLi 3 to 4 hot swap units. 3 to 5 would push it to 30.
 
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I use this case. Holds ten @ stock and with 5x5.25 bays can be expanded to 18. Currently on sale @ the egg for around $150.
 
Whatever case you do choose, with a large number of drives in very close proximity make sure you have proper cooling and some kind of vibration-reducing mounting options. The Fractal and newer Lian-Li cases do better than many in this regard.
 
I had this small cube with 9 drives in it, yy-0221,
drives01.jpg

It can hold 8 drives in the rear but I wanted them spaced apart since I had 7200 rpm drives and they'd get pretty warm.

I am using a classic 10 bay full tower case in the garage as a table
 
kac77 said:
I'm actually in the process of upgrading my file server. This is the case I got. It arrived last night. :)



It has a 24 drive capacity using the LianLi 3 to 4 hot swap units. 3 to 5 would push it to 30.
Click to expand...
Brutal. How many disks you got? Is the case silent? Can you make a thread of your build and photos? :)
 
brutalizer said:
Brutal. How many disks you got? Is the case silent? Can you make a thread of your build and photos? :)
Click to expand...

Sure. I think I've settled on the 2TB 7k3000's. They will replace 1TB RE4's in my other box. I'm buying the disks in sets of 6. If they work well (since they aren't enterprise drives) then those will be the standard for this build. I'm using an LSI SAS 9201-16i initially but eventually it will be paired with an Intel Expander.

In terms of silence it's pretty quiet, but that's completely determined by what fans you decide to use. What they basically give you is an aluminium case with wheels and shit ton of rubber grommets. it was a little pricey considering, but then again it's solid aluminum and weighs all of 25 lbs and that's probably because of the wheels. You could pick it up with your pinky if you wanted to. Everything else you buy and add to it. I had tons of non-LED fans from previous mods so this wasn't a problem at all.

I thought about doing a rack, but I would have ended up spending more and even more keeping it quiet. I was going to do an APC Netshelter since it was really stylish ....anyway....

In terms of CPU, I decided to resurrect a M2N-SLI Deluxe that I had on a shelf. It supported ECC so that old thing ended up having a use. Bought some unbuffered ECC mem for 39 bucks and away I went. Once this build is done my main dual socket will go into the file server and I'll build a 4S system instead to power my main and hopefully I'll be done for a while. :) Once the drives come in I'll start the thread.
 
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XIGMATEK Utgard Black Mid-Tower Tower Case w/ Window, ATX, No PSU, Steel with 2 NORCO SS-500 5-Bay SATA / SAS Hot Swap Rack Module

utgard.jpg
 
It's been a while since I posted on this thread. I think I've finalized on the design for my file server upgrade. That being said I stumbled onto the accessories for the Lian Li PC 343 case. The max drive count on this case is technically 39 drives in a pinch or a more sensible 36.

Now I'm going for 20 drive bays. I just don't see my home file server requiring more than that. i'm going with 2TB drives so a real total of 32 TB of usable space once everything is said and done.

Not bad I must say.
 
Anything with a bunch of 5.25 bays. Just add 5x3 cages and you can hold a ton in just about anything.
 
they dont make small towers with large amount of bay anymore. If you can find them, there were a few 9 bay tower out there that wasn't huge. I own a rosewell brand myself.
 
Lian Li PC-A77FB with 4 5in3 cages to get you 20 drives.

I run a prominent 9 with 3 Sumpermicro 5in3's for 15 drive. I love it (once i swapped the SM fans out)
 
Plastikman said:
I run a prominent 9 with 3 Sumpermicro 5in3's for 15 drive. I love it (once i swapped the SM fans out)
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Quick question- I quite like the look, size, and price of that case, but I need to be able to fit 3x 4in3's into it, as well as a single SSD for the OS. I noticed in some pictures I found online (namely, this one) that it looks as if the very, very top "bay" (where the USB, eSATA, audio, and power buttons are) has screw holes and mounting options. Do you know if it's possible to easily fit some sort of adapter in that bay for a 2.5" drive, that won't interfere with those front buttons?
 
Sharkoon Rebel 12 ♥

700822-009_p004.jpg


+ 4x Rack 5x 3,5" in 4x 5"1/4 (supermicro or IcyDock) = 20 drives + 6 drives inside ...;)

dsc1572d.jpg
 
I paid $40 for a NZXT Source 210 (S210-001) case, which has 8 3.5" bays, and 3x5.25" bays. I added a atom motherboard I had laying around, 3x2.0TB, 4x1.0TB, and a bunch of 2.5" drives in 4x1 5.25" bay adapters.

If you're looking for bang-for-the-buck, I found no better. Case looks pretty nice too and has 2x 120mm fans in the front blowing over the 8 drives.
 
ST3F said:
Sharkoon Rebel 12 ♥

700822-009_p004.jpg


+ 4x Rack 5x 3,5" in 4x 5"1/4 (supermicro or IcyDock) = 20 drives + 6 drives inside ...;)

dsc1572d.jpg
Click to expand...


Very nice, would you mind showing the inside of your case, I'm hesitant of this case due to lack of cable management behind the motherboard tray.
 
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