Case for NAS Server

[digityzed]

I'm looking for a small computer case similar to the size of home/small office NAS devices (Terastation, ReadyNas, etc) or Windows Home Server boxes (HP MediaSmart Servers) that'll hold at least 4 x 3.5 SATA drives and a RAID PCI card. Any recommendations?

TIA

P.S. - Yes, I'm essentially trying to build my own home NAS server with a smaller physical footprint that'll run FreeNAS or Openfiler.

 

[sk1939]

You could try this case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811204036

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156200

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112147

 

[digityzed]

Thanks! The RaidMax Icecube is more inline with what I'm looking for of the three. A little bigger than I want but it has micro ATX which means I can throw the spare computer parts I have lying around and save hundreds on this project!

So far I'm looking at...:

RAIDMAX ICECUBE ATX-015B Black Aluminum MicroATX Desktop Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156200

LIAN LI PC-Q08B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112265

Fractal Design Array Mini ITX NAS Case
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=3&prod=39

And if I had the cash I'd just go with...:
Synology DS410 Diskless System DiskStation 4-bay All-in-1 NAS Server
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108050


Any other recommendations/solutions/route I should look at?

TIA

 

[sk1939]

Thanks! The RaidMax Icecube is more inline with what I'm looking for of the three. A little bigger than I want but it has micro ATX which means I can throw the spare computer parts I have lying around and save hundreds on this project!

So far I'm looking at...:

RAIDMAX ICECUBE ATX-015B Black Aluminum MicroATX Desktop Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156200

LIAN LI PC-Q08B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112265

Fractal Design Array Mini ITX NAS Case
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=3&prod=39

And if I had the cash I'd just go with...:
Synology DS410 Diskless System DiskStation 4-bay All-in-1 NAS Server
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108050


Any other recommendations/solutions/route I should look at?

TIA

Thats about all I can think og, but remember that all the cases with the exception of the Raidmax are MiniITX which is differernt from MicroATX, they are smaller boards....personally I like the look of the Fractal Design one, but the LianLi probably has better cooling (important if running 24/7 with alot of hard drives).

 

[digityzed]

Thanks, I was going to go the micro-ATX or mini-ITX route but it looks like my RAID card is too old and has a 2 TB array limit. I doubt a good 4 port SATA RAID card that supports at least 6 Tb and RAID 5 are affordable so there goes my least expensive options

 

[sk1939]

Those will cost you about $2-300, so affordable depends on point of view....but yes, in comparison to a NAS box, probably more expensive.

 

[digityzed]

Ya, who knew putting together a home NAS solution could be so pricey. My optimal set up is Synology DS410 with 4 x 2 TB drives - total project: almost $1200 ($500+ for the NAS, $600 for the drives). Frak! Then I figured use FreeNAS/Openfiler/Ubuntu Server, the 4 x 1 TB drives and 4 port RAID card I already have and just buy a slick ass mini-ITX case and mini-ITX mobo - total project: about $300. Much better! Then you pointed out that not so bad micro ATX case - total project: $100. Even better! But now the RAID card needs replacing, so that adds $200-300 to the custom build options.

With the total cost inching closer to $600 the Synology option comes back into play I'm so confused, I've sent 3 days mulling over this and I still don't have a final solution... being knowledgeable sucks sometimes!

 

[sk1939]

Ya, who knew putting together a home NAS solution could be so pricey. My optimal set up is Synology DS410 with 4 x 2 TB drives - total project: almost $1200 ($500+ for the NAS, $600 for the drives). Frak! Then I figured use FreeNAS/Openfiler/Ubuntu Server, the 4 x 1 TB drives and 4 port RAID card I already have and just buy a slick ass mini-ITX case and mini-ITX mobo - total project: about $300. Much better! Then you pointed out that not so bad micro ATX case - total project: $100. Even better! But now the RAID card needs replacing, so that adds $200-300 to the custom build options.

With the total cost inching closer to $600 the Synology option comes back into play I'm so confused, I've sent 3 days mulling over this and I still don't have a final solution... being knowledgeable sucks sometimes!

It does...the other thing to be aware of is alot of modern RAID controllers are formatted for SAS rather than SATA as well. Here are a few of my recommendations:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822107042

+

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284&cm_re=wd_caviar_black_1tb-_-22-136-284-_-Product

For $800,you get 2TB of storage and an iSCSI target, which is really useful.

Or, you could go this route

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128436&cm_re=mini_itx-_-13-128-436-_-Product

That motherboard has 4 SATA connectors, in which you could also add your RAID controller for a total of 8 ports, even if your RAID controller doesn't support more than 2TB, you could use the motherboards JBOD raid for the remaining drives.

You should also realize that Raid 5 has many disadvantages, and that it would be better to use Raid 1 for data protection of crucial files, and RAID 3 or Raid 0 for general storage.

 

[digityzed]

Nah, the files are not crucial, I'll stick with RAID 5. Usable space is most important and data protection isn't as important. Unless my understanding of RAID 5 is wrong and I can't just replace a drive that has gone bad in the array, rebuild the array and not lose any data?

 

[digityzed]

What are the disadvantages of RAID 5?