High storage capacity case recomendation

[RotaryRoach]

Im looking for a case to hold ~7ish 3.5in hdd's, would be even better if there was support for a 5.25 in the front. Any recommendations are accepted, would like to stay around 140$ though there is wiggle room.

 

Edit: While not a requirement, a glass or otherwise see through side panel is prefered.

[johnt]

Look at the Fractal Define R5 Window. You will probably have better luck on eBay. They have the R6 and R7 now but they are a bit more expensive. I found the non-window version for $75 on Amazon last year and I bought two of them for my servers.

 

Why do you want a window? The wiring is a mess with 8 drives.

[RotaryRoach]

2 minutes ago, johnt said:

Look at the Fractal Define R5 Window. You will probably have better luck on eBay. They have the R6 and R7 now but they are a bit more expensive. I found the non-window version for $75 on Amazon last year and I bought two of them for my servers.

 

Why do you want a window? The wiring is a mess with 8 drives.

I dont need a window, just something of a "feature" that I was thinking I might like to have, You are right, and thinking now it is probably best to not have a window, while and after writing this I was looking, the cooler master n400 and the r5 are around the same price range (looking at r5 non window for the price), is there a distinct disadvantage?

[dogwitch]

27 minutes ago, RotaryRoach said:

I dont need a window, just something of a "feature" that I was thinking I might like to have, You are right, and thinking now it is probably best to not have a window, while and after writing this I was looking, the cooler master n400 and the r5 are around the same price range (looking at r5 non window for the price), is there a distinct disadvantage?

https://graphicscardhub.com/case-with-lots-of-hdd/

 

[RotaryRoach]

20 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

https://graphicscardhub.com/case-with-lots-of-hdd/

 

Most of theses arent available through the links provided, and are very overpriced now, one is 240$, and, this is on me, i do need this case to support ATX

[dogwitch]

29 minutes ago, RotaryRoach said:

Most of theses arent available through the links provided, and are very overpriced now, one is 240$, and, this is on me, i do need this case to support ATX

that kind of the issue now. more hdd bays double the price of a case .

 

[thrasher_565]

Phanteks Enthoo Pro

Thermaltake Core V71

be quiet! Pure Base 600

Thermaltake Core X71

Antec Vsk 4000e

Antec P101 Silent

 

Edited December 8, 2024 by thrasher_565

[ChrisLoudon]

3 hours ago, RotaryRoach said:

Im looking for a case to hold ~7ish 3.5in hdd's, would be even better if there was support for a 5.25 in the front. Any recommendations are accepted, would like to stay around 140$ though there is wiggle room.

 

Edit: While not a requirement, a glass or otherwise see through side panel is prefered.

My NAS is in a Fractal Node 804.

 

It has capacity for 8 drives in the secondary compartment (limit to 7 if you want an easier job with cable management specifically the 2 x 4pin CPU Power) and 2 SSDs in the front plus whatever NVMe slots the mobo has.

 

Its a uATX case so does limit mobo choices and you'll need a PCIe Sata / HBA to get the additional drives plumbed in but over all, its a neat package.

 

Easy find under £100.

[leclod]

You probably haven't got 7 22TB drives.

So if I may ask, why wouldn't sell some of those drives and replace by big ones ?

(it's what I do)(sorry for asking dumb questions)

Edited December 8, 2024 by leclod

[johnt]

3 hours ago, leclod said:

You probably haven't got 7 22TB drives.

So if I may ask, why wouldn't sell some of those drives and replace by big ones ?

(it's what I do)(sorry for asking dumb questions)

Because for me, an HBA, large case, and four used 12 TB drives (RAID1) are cheaper than a single 24 TB drive with absolutely no redundancy. I am fully confused how some folks are able to squeeze a Synology and brand new large drives out of wives and family budgets.

 

Rant...

 

Personally I think WD/Seagate totally overpriced their products. A 7200rpm drive with a 5 year warranty used to be the standard for 3.5 inch. Now products with these "features" carry a huge premium. That's why you see YT reviews with dudes who pay for 2 or 4 TB drives or large drives were "provided" for the review.

[TPCEA]

I can suggest 2:

Silverstone Seta A2 & Kingdom Classico Storage Master

• Both are built for lots of storage, and the towering cage each has is removable.
• The SS is easier to build in and has some features absent in the CSM, plus it is larger. Unfortunately, it's over your budget limit, and it's probably twice the weight with a window. I shared info about this case a few weeks ago in this subforum.
• The CSM is sold under various brands; I last saw it this month under the Dark Rock brand. It relies on a fair amount of perforations, has no window, and is relatively inexpensive and light, but is also lower quality.

Reviews for both are on my YT channel. Sorry I can't suggest more; I don't do a lot of case reviews because of space and other constraints. 

[johnt]

8 hours ago, RotaryRoach said:

I dont need a window, just something of a "feature" that I was thinking I might like to have, You are right, and thinking now it is probably best to not have a window, while and after writing this I was looking, the cooler master n400 and the r5 are around the same price range (looking at r5 non window for the price), is there a distinct disadvantage?

I wasn't aware of the N400. I don't really look for CM stuff unless I have to... but after researching the N400, it seems like a reasonably good case and very similar to the R5. A big difference is the R5 has the drive sleds and they are slotted from the side of the case, while the N400 slides the drives into place from inside the case. This is a traditional style of placing drives, but it is more difficult if you have cards (GPU, HBA, wires, etc.). The R5 can be a bit more annoying because the sleds have proprietary screws for 3.5 and 2.5 drives. Just a few more baggies to keep track of, but the advantage is they have rubber mounts to help with reduce vibrations to and from the drives. The R5 provides fans to cool the drives from the front, while the N400 has fan mounts on the "back" side of the case. These might have to be thin 15mm fans on the N400 so watch out for that. Other than that they appear about the same. Both have four USB ports up front and a side fan mount for expansion cards. This fan mount is very important if you are going to add an HBA.

[OhioYJ]

9 hours ago, johnt said:

Why do you want a window? The wiring is a mess with 8 drives.

You really don't see any of the wiring? I started with an R5, the wires don't face the window:

 

 

I will say though I ended up modifying the front so it could breath a little easier:

 

 

I will say though plan ahead some. Is 7 HDD really all you need, or will you upgrade? I built mine with 4 HDD, then went to 8, then 16 (I'm in the Define 7 XL now). I swapped cases three times because I didn't plan ahead.

[RotaryRoach]

4 hours ago, leclod said:

You probably haven't got 7 22TB drives.

So if I may ask, why wouldn't sell some of those drives and replace by big ones ?

(it's what I do)(sorry for asking dumb questions)

Simply, money, most of these drives were given to me (computers that were gonna get thrown out that had 1 or 2tb drives) your right it would be much simplar to do it this way, also the only high capacity hdd I have ever had is having many many issues but that was beside the point and not what I was trying to get answered.

[RotaryRoach]

36 minutes ago, johnt said:

Because for me, an HBA, large case, and four used 12 TB drives (RAID1) are cheaper than a single 24 TB drive with absolutely no redundancy. I am fully confused how some folks are able to squeeze a Synology and brand new large drives out of wives and family budgets.

 

Rant...

 

Personally I think WD/Seagate totally overpriced their products. A 7200rpm drive with a 5 year warranty used to be the standard for 3.5 inch. Now products with these "features" carry a huge premium. That's why you see YT reviews with dudes who pay for 2 or 4 TB drives or large drives were "provided" for the review.

It's rather the same story, I'm okay budget and a lot of these drives were accumulated over the years, I could sell them, I would get nothing for them, I also would like to have drive bags for when I do upgrade, I honestly thank you for being somebody who didn't ask why I needed it but simply gave me recommendations, right now I'm leaning towards the r5, it's the best value for money, but I'm leaving it open as there have been other great opens ie the theta etc

[RotaryRoach]

47 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

You really don't see any of the wiring? I started with an R5, the wires don't face the window:

 

 

I will say though I ended up modifying the front so it could breath a little easier:

 

 

I will say though plan ahead some. Is 7 HDD really all you need, or will you upgrade? I built mine with 4 HDD, then went to 8, then 16 (I'm in the Define 7 XL now). I swapped cases three times because I didn't plan ahead.

I don't personally see myself going over 8 it's possible but not in the reasonable future, I also can't justify the extra 140$ for the 7 xl

[johnt]

9 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

You really don't see any of the wiring? I started with an R5, the wires don't face the window:

 

 

I will say though I ended up modifying the front so it could breath a little easier:

 

 

I will say though plan ahead some. Is 7 HDD really all you need, or will you upgrade? I built mine with 4 HDD, then went to 8, then 16 (I'm in the Define 7 XL now). I swapped cases three times because I didn't plan ahead.

That looks really nice!! I have my drives facing the other way so I can swap them a little easier. I really wish the R5 had a first party backplane you could purchase and then I would totally place them the way you have it. I set it the other way so I can swap them when I need. It’s only recently that my back up server has 8 large drives in it. Before that I was swapping drives for trial and error. 

[OhioYJ]

21 hours ago, johnt said:

That looks really nice!! I have my drives facing the other way so I can swap them a little easier. I really wish the R5 had a first party backplane you could purchase and then I would totally place them the way you have it. I set it the other way so I can swap them when I need. It’s only recently that my back up server has 8 large drives in it. Before that I was swapping drives for trial and error. 

Thanks. Really swapping them would only mean pulling the other side panel too, so it's not that much work, and (knock on wood), it shouldn't be happening that often. 

 

I know when I swapped cases I added labels to every drive, with the last bit of the S/N, and date of manufature (maybe it was purchase? Don't remember now). Hard to see in this image, but that's the white sticker on the right corner.

 

 

[johnt]

On 12/9/2024 at 1:43 PM, OhioYJ said:

Thanks. Really swapping them would only mean pulling the other side panel too, so it's not that much work, and (knock on wood), it shouldn't be happening that often. 

 

I know when I swapped cases I added labels to every drive, with the last bit of the S/N, and date of manufature (maybe it was purchase? Don't remember now). Hard to see in this image, but that's the white sticker on the right corner.

 

 

Those are some great practices. I bought a label maker for this reason, but I haven’t labeled the drives yet because they are all in operation lol I have both of mine stacked against a shelving unit, so opening the “back side” would mean a lot of work for me.

 

The Define 7 XL is a gorgeous case. It’s big, but it looks right with all those drives in it. I will probably replace my 5 versions with it as I need more drive space and it gets cheaper. It’s a better value compared to server cases unless you can find a used one in good condition. Although purchasing all those drive trays is a huge added cost. I can’t help but think you can stack three to four more drives loosely in the opening between the fans and drives. Maybe with some double sided tape?

[TPCEA]

1 hour ago, johnt said:

Those are some great practices. I bought a label maker for this reason, but I haven’t labeled the drives yet because they are all in operation lol I have both of mine stacked against a shelving unit, so opening the “back side” would mean a lot of work for me.

 

The Define 7 XL is a gorgeous case. It’s big, but it looks right with all those drives in it. I will probably replace my 5 versions with it as I need more drive space and it gets cheaper. It’s a better value compared to server cases unless you can find a used one in good condition. Although purchasing all those drive trays is a huge added cost. I can’t help but think you can stack three to four more drives loosely in the opening between the fans and drives. Maybe with some double sided tape?

I haven't yet reviewed them but if you want some options that are VERY configurable, consider the following. Note that you might have to add drive cages.

• InWin ModFree Deluxe (black only?) - $250, composed of multiple discrete chambers, it offers the ability to add on additional modules and has other extra parts (like panels) for sale. I don't have this one and, since I was just illegally fired by Amazon, it's unlikely that I'll be able to afford it any time soon. Chambers can be rotated and put together in different ways. Drives:

  2 x 2.5“

  1 x 3.5” or 2 x 2.5” with HDD Bracket

• DeepCool Morpheus (black or white) - designed to allow for rearranging internal components, including PSU, mobo, and fans ranging from 120-200mm using reconfigurable internal components. It's also the biggest of these and definitely not light. It's hard to find in the US - I got it on eBay a few days ago for under $90 (white only, 5 left, the next cheapest source is about $150). Drives:
  2+1 x 2.5“
  2 x 3.5”
• Cooler Master Qube 500 Flatpack (black, white, macaron) - $90-100, comes unassembled with video instructions and at least 6 different ways to put it together, allowing you to put it together to best serve your needs. Drives:
  4 x 3.5"
  3 x 2.5"

Each of these offers DIY configurability in their own way.

Edited December 12, 2024 by TPCEA

[OhioYJ]

23 hours ago, johnt said:

Although purchasing all those drive trays is a huge added cost. I can’t help but think you can stack three to four more drives loosely in the opening between the fans and drives. Maybe with some double sided tape?

Yeah, and not just everywhere sells those drive bays either. It was kind of a PITA to be honest. Of course cases that hold that many drives, your options are kind of limited.

 

My original build was in a very cheap case, and I just used one of those add on bays, that I bolted to the PSU shroud (I think it could hold 4-5 drives):

 

 

23 hours ago, johnt said:

Those are some great practices. I bought a label maker for this reason, but I haven’t labeled the drives yet

My label maker sees a lot of use. I used to use a Silver Sharpie for a lot of things. Around my house you'll find labels on everything. No more guessing what this power brick or power cord goes to.  You can read the everything in the breaker box. Every network cable has a little label flag on it. It's like that meme where the label maker is labeled "label maker".

[TPCEA]

You could also look at the Lian Li O11 series, and the Montech King 95 series.

 

The O11 Dynamic, for example, which I got for a shocking $37 (open box but complete), can hold up to 6 2.5" or 3 2.5" and 3 3.5" drives, or a mix.

 

I picked up a King 95 in blue during BF and it can hold 8 2.5" drives and 5 3.5" drives. There's no reason to get the pro version, which is about $40 more and the only difference is it comes with 140mm fans (the non-pro has no fans included).

 

Also, on both you can remove the mounting trays. Personally, I think the King 95 is a bit better, but I haven't seen any of the other O11s. Both can also hold 2 PSUs if you take out the drive cage and, for the O11, remove the drive mounting panel in the rear to install even larger PSUs (170mm on top, 210mm on bottom, or 250mm each without the panel). The King 95 is limited to 190mm.