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Mini-ITX case for a home NAS

UndeadLemming
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So I've been trying to get my NAS/home server build going for the longest time, but I'm stuck at choosing the right case. It's going to be sitting next to my TV in my studio appartment so I'm trying to go as small as possible while having the most possible storage space available. I'm going to build it myself because the available small NAS options with at least 8 bays are either too expensive or too underpowered for my needs. I live in Europe so some of the options you guys have in the States or Canada might be either too expensive or unattainable for me.

 

My requirements:

Accessibilty: Case should have easy access for adding, removing or replacing drives.

Size: Preferrably Mini-ITX or small MicroATX.

Storage: At least 8 easily accessible (hot-swap) 3.5" bays or 6x5.25" bays.

Cooling: The case should be able to offer good cooling for hard drives without modding it. 

Availability: Should be available in Europe but if it doesn't cost much then can be bought from abroad.

 

What I've looked at:

1. Lian Li PC-Q25: It's available where I am but only has 5 hot-swap bays and I'm trying to go for at least 8. Otherwise it looks like a decent option although the price is a little hefty.

2. Lian Li PC-Q26: Seems like a perfect case with unique but ingenious drive mounting options but has been discontinued and has been impossible to find in stock. The price is high but it manages to do everything I want so it's acceptable.

3. Silverstone DS380: The size fits and has the right amount of hot-swap bays but the reviews seem to indicate that it has abysmal cooling without modding the hard drive cage.

4. Silverstone CS280: Size fits, but it only has 2.5" bays and also lackluster cooling.

5. U-NAS NSC-810A: Unavailable in Europe but otherwise seems to tick all the boxes (price with transport fees and VAT is close to 250€)

6. iStarUSA S-917:  Size fits and good cooling can be achieved without modding. Doesn't have hotswap bays but has a lot of 5.25" bays which allow to fit a 5x3.5" hot-swap unit in 3x5.25" slots. However it is unavailable in EU.

7. Fractal Design Node 304: Size fits, can be cooled and has good availability in EU. However unlike many other builders I find the ease of adding, replacing and removing drives from this case to be a chore + it still has only 6x3.5" hard drive spots. 

8. Fractal Design Node 804: Can fit 10x3.5" drives however for me it has the same problem that Node 304 had - replacing, adding and removing drives is a chore. Also it is a little bulky for what I had in mind. Otherwise has a good build quality, plenty of cooling options and is readily available in EU.

9. Norco ITX-S8: Size fits, has the right amount of bays, cooling is decent... but cannot be found in Europe.

 

Do you guys have any suggestions for a NAS case that matches my requirements? I also wrote to Lian Li to just check if they have any PC-Q26 leftover but haven't heard back from them. Their facebook "Lian Li HQ" answered that there is nothing left.

 

Thanks in advance!

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None of those cases are hotswap capable. Hotswap means you can take a drive out while it's spinning and put one back in without the controller catching fire. Companies really don't advertise this properly. You'd have to use a 5,25 to 3,5" hostswap unit with backplane and a proper RAID controller or HBA to deal with the drives.

 

You might be able to get away with the Silverstone CS380 if you jerry rig fans on the outside or use cool running drives like WD Reds and Seagate Ironwolfs.

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Most of these cases come with a hot-swappable backplane and an add-on HBA is given in a NAS build. 

 

I hope you meant CS280. Since it's going to be sitting in my living room I don't want to make a monster out of it. There is a CS380 but that's an ATX Mid Tower and definitely too big for what I was going for.

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Silverstone CS381 (it is being released soon)

 

-Micro ATX case

8 hot swap 3.5" bays, 10 possible 3.5" total

 

"Put as much effort into your question as you'd expect someone to give in an answer"- @Princess Luna

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Looks promising. This time they are prefering airflow over size but still it's too big for my use case. Also I would like something that resembles more a tower than a cube.

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16 minutes ago, UndeadLemming said:

Looks promising. This time they are prefering airflow over size but still it's too big for my use case. Also I would like something that resembles more a tower than a cube.

Found this guy

https://www.amazon.com/Norco-Mini-ITX-Computer-Storage-support/dp/B012UO63TK

 

Everyone else seemed to be using the Node 804

"Put as much effort into your question as you'd expect someone to give in an answer"- @Princess Luna

Make sure to Quote posts or tag the person with @[username] so they know you responded to them!

 RGB Build Post 2019 --- Rainbow 🦆 2020 --- Velka 5 V2.0 Build 2021

Purple Build Post ---  Blue Build Post --- Blue Build Post 2018 --- Project ITNOS

CPU i7-4790k    Motherboard Gigabyte Z97N-WIFI    RAM G.Skill Sniper DDR3 1866mhz    GPU EVGA GTX1080Ti FTW3    Case Corsair 380T   

Storage Samsung EVO 250GB, Samsung EVO 1TB, WD Black 3TB, WD Black 5TB    PSU Corsair CX750M    Cooling Cryorig H7 with NF-A12x25

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Yeah this little guy is number 9 on my list. Unfortunately doesn't ship to Estonia (Europe).

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1 hour ago, UndeadLemming said:

Yeah this little guy is number 9 on my list. Unfortunately doesn't ship to Estonia (Europe).

I'm just gonna facepalm myself from not seeing that in the OP. 

"Put as much effort into your question as you'd expect someone to give in an answer"- @Princess Luna

Make sure to Quote posts or tag the person with @[username] so they know you responded to them!

 RGB Build Post 2019 --- Rainbow 🦆 2020 --- Velka 5 V2.0 Build 2021

Purple Build Post ---  Blue Build Post --- Blue Build Post 2018 --- Project ITNOS

CPU i7-4790k    Motherboard Gigabyte Z97N-WIFI    RAM G.Skill Sniper DDR3 1866mhz    GPU EVGA GTX1080Ti FTW3    Case Corsair 380T   

Storage Samsung EVO 250GB, Samsung EVO 1TB, WD Black 3TB, WD Black 5TB    PSU Corsair CX750M    Cooling Cryorig H7 with NF-A12x25

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