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3x 5.25'' to 4 or 5x 3.5'' bay

Mr Tosti
By Mr Tosti
in Cases and Mods
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Hey guys, as the title says. I am looking for a 3x 5.25'' bay adapter to convert into 4 or 5 3.5'' bays. Preferably with anti vibration and some sort of possibility to mount a fan in the front for some cooling of the harddrives. I couldn't really find much on the internet so maybe you guys happen to know of some of these adapters? Maybe even own one of them?

Any help and/or suggestion is appreciated :)

 

Thanks in advance.

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Hi. Have you checked out IcyDock? I was looking at bay converters a while back myself; though I was more interested in the 1x5.25 to 6x2.5. Anyway, they have a few models that should fit. While I find the word "vibration" only on one of the pages, I'm sure they probably all incorporate at least some method of lessening vibrations. Worse case scenario is that you may need to use some rubber grommets.

Below are 4 and 5 drive adapters (respectively). 4 drives horizontal, or 5 drives vertical. They both have a rear exhaust fan to pull air across the drives. The 5 drive enclosure is the one that specifies anti-vibration.
http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=159
http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=163


The following are both 4 drive adapters. They use a 120mm front intake fan. The only difference I noticed between the two is that the second one listed has two 3-way switches; one for fan speed (Off/L/H) and one for fan LED brightness (Off/L/H).
http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=166
http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=175

Hope this helps.


Best Regards,
G²

G²

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4 x 3.5'' and 2 x 2.5'' in a 3 x 5.25'' slot:

EX-36A1 from Lian Li: http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/ex-36b1/

 

It has a fan and ant pibration mount. I don't think you can squeeze more drives in a 5.25'' x 3 slot...

Personally I don't have one.

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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Hi. Have you checked out IcyDock? I was looking at bay converters a while back myself; though I was more interested in the 1x5.25 to 6x2.5. Anyway, they have a few models that should fit. While I find the word "vibration" only on one of the pages, I'm sure they probably all incorporate at least some method of lessening vibrations. Worse case scenario is that you may need to use some rubber grommets.

Below are 4 and 5 drive adapters (respectively). 4 drives horizontal, or 5 drives vertical. They both have a rear exhaust fan to pull air across the drives. The 5 drive enclosure is the one that specifies anti-vibration.

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=159

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=163

The following are both 4 drive adapters. They use a 120mm front intake fan. The only difference I noticed between the two is that the second one listed has two 3-way switches; one for fan speed (Off/L/H) and one for fan LED brightness (Off/L/H).

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=166

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=175

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

G²

Hey, thanks! I have looked at icydock. Thanks for making a nice list, I was too stupid to think of making a comparison list myself xD One of those sundays where I am too tired to think somewhat efficient haha. I would like to have a 120mm front fan and it should also be somewhat aesthetically pleasing :P Although it has some really nice features, I am not going for the 5 way vertical bay. The fact that I want to use a 120mm fan also wipes the one with the USB ports out of the way.

 

Now the one with the door that has a fan mounted inside seems like a very nice option. Not sure if I'm going for that one since it kind of ruins my ''clean look'' on my pc ^^ but maybe I can find some ghetto solution to make it work, or mount a grill in front. Only... What's the difference between the MB074SP-B and the MB074SP-1B? I can find as much as that the 1B is just an upgrade, having some control over leds and fans and removable front panel handles. Not that this is really a big plus since I plan on controlling my fan via motherboard and software and I don't want (blue) leds since my color scheme is orange :o So if I were to go for one of these, it's probably going to be the basic one.

 

 

4 x 3.5'' and 2 x 2.5'' in a 3 x 5.25'' slot:

EX-36A1 from Lian Li: http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/ex-36b1/

 

It has a fan and ant pibration mount. I don't think you can squeeze more drives in a 5.25'' x 3 slot...

Personally I don't have one.

Now I have also found this one really interesting, mainly because I am thinking about upgrading to a 4 HDD (2x Raid 0) and 2 SSD (also raid 0) and this would fit perfectly for that. THere are, however, a few things I don't like: It's not black, maybe I could spray paint it black and that would solve it but ok. Also I have to mount it with screws but I guess that's not that big of a deal... I really do like that it has a dust filter and that it's possible to replace the fan.

 

Hmmmmmm... What shall I do..? I'm so bad at making decisions -.- What are your guys' opinions?

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Thanks for your input guys! I am going with the basic MB074SP-B. Since I am going to do some light modding to cover up some holes at the back of my 900D I'll just go and make some SSD mounts at the back also. :)

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Sorry Mr Tosti. I know they don't look that nice; I had the same thought when I ran across them for the first time. I'm more of a stickler on cost than aesthetics.

As for the difference between MB074SP-B and the -B1 variant, I think it's just the controls.

Also, if you want a fan filter, just cut up some nylons. Depending on how DIY you're feeling, you could do the following:
(This seems like more work than it is.)
-> Remove the fan door.
-> Get some thin sheet metal
-> Cut a section for a grill; or just buy mesh sheet metal.
-> Measure out the bends, use a tin snips to clip what you must.
-> Wrap a pair of pliers with some electric tape or something soft and then carefully bend things into place.
-> Clean and prep it, then paint it.
-> Once dry, install it.

G²

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Hey guys, A little update if any one of you wanted to know, I oreded the Icy Dock Black vortex MB074SP-B but I sent it back ASAP after I got it. The dust filter is very cheaply made and it's hard to swap it out since there is a little flaw in design thus, preventing it from being put back into original position easily.

Also the whole cages scratches the inside of your bays (and also the cage itself gets scratched). The screws that are included in the package or the wrong kind of screws, so when you mount the harddrives in the brackets, you can not slide them into the cage because the screws make the bracket too wide.

I really don't like the product and sent it back immediately, now if you were to pay like 15 bucks for this, okay, but this thing cost 45 euros so I would at least expect some quality.

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