Case for Media Server

[StangMan04]

I am rebuilding my old media server that was running Open Indiana. I am only going to have 4 2TB drives in this machine. I am looking for a case that already has hot swappable drive bays or buying a case and 5.25 to 3.5 hot swappable bay trays. Prefer not to spend a ton of money if at all possible. I don't have to have a small case either, it will be sitting on the floor in my spare room.

This machine sits in another room and I am going to stream movies/tv shows from it. Below are what I currently have.

• Cool Master Centurion 5 case (seems a bit small when cabling up my current drives)
• EVGA Z68 SLI Micro ATX Motherboard
• 8GB Memory
• 250GB SSD for OS
• (4) 2TB Drives
• Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU
• Intel i3 2100 3.1GHz

 

[StangMan04]

Looking at getting these:

Hot-swap bay
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817994027

New case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119233

Case is decent since I can remove the HD tray and allow more space. (Getting access to the SATA ports SUCK with them there)

May go a different route on motherboard since my current one only have 2 SATA3 ports and 4 SATA2 ports. Maybe get a ATX board that would put the SATA ports lower in the case for easier access and a board that has 4 SATA3 ports (2 SATA2 ports for OS/DVD drive)

 

[aigomorla]

hot swaping case for micro atx is very difficult to find...

You may need to step up to a full atx rack with hot swap.


My 2 cents on hot swapping.... for a NAS its sort of pointless.
i have a few cases which have hot swap ability, however i rarely use them.
The only one i do use is the one on my server where i hot swap a DVR drive to backup before wiping it.

Other then that, especially for a NAS, you rarely will use it, and the hassle of finding appropriate flat screws or not losing the ones which come with the case is more of a hassle.

 

[StangMan04]

hot swaping case for micro atx is very difficult to find...

You may need to step up to a full atx rack with hot swap.


My 2 cents on hot swapping.... for a NAS its sort of pointless.
i have a few cases which have hot swap ability, however i rarely use them.
The only one i do use is the one on my server where i hot swap a DVR drive to backup before wiping it.

Other then that, especially for a NAS, you rarely will use it, and the hassle of finding appropriate flat screws or not losing the ones which come with the case is more of a hassle.

Yeah I just worry about failed drives and figuring out which drive failed. I just plan to RAID my drives in BIOS and leave it at that. Is there a easy way to find out which drive failed by using BIOS RAID? I guess it just wouldn't show up? Also, just the ease of access when removing drives in the event of a failure. The 2TB drives I am using are from 2010.

 

[aigomorla]

Yeah I just worry about failed drives and figuring out which drive failed. I just plan to RAID my drives in BIOS and leave it at that. Is there a easy way to find out which drive failed by using BIOS RAID? I guess it just wouldn't show up??

the drive will say failed at bootup check on the raid bios as well as the port.

Then you just need to look at your board and find out which port correlates to what drive.

Basically, your gonna need to open the case anyhow unless u aligned the hot swap bays with the port and memorized them.

So honestly id say yourself the cost of the hotswap bay, and possibly pick up another 2TB drive and have 5 of them.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Fractal Node 804. Not hot swap, but it'll hold ten HDDs.

 

[StangMan04]

the drive will say failed at bootup check on the raid bios as well as the port.

Then you just need to look at your board and find out which port correlates to what drive.

Basically, your gonna need to open the case anyhow unless u aligned the hot swap bays with the port and memorized them.

So honestly id say yourself the cost of the hotswap bay, and possibly pick up another 2TB drive and have 5 of them.

Would this not show the failed drive? It says it has indicators.

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=50

I see the print under it, not sure if my motherboard provides hard drive fail signal via voltage pin though.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Would this not show the failed drive? It says it has indicators.

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=50

I see the print under it, not sure if my motherboard provides hard drive fail signal via voltage pin though.

I would, generally, assume that consumer motherboard didn't, although I've been happy to be proven wrong before.

 

[aigomorla]

Would this not show the failed drive? It says it has indicators.

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=50

I see the print under it, not sure if my motherboard provides hard drive fail signal via voltage pin though.

"*the hard drive fail signal is provided by external host such as a RAID controller card or a motherboard."

most consumer boards do not have this feature.

 

[StangMan04]

"*the hard drive fail signal is provided by external host such as a RAID controller card or a motherboard."

most consumer boards do not have this feature.

Doesn't surprise me. Guess I will just keep my case and let my 2 of my drives sit on top of each other in the empty 5.25 bay lol. They won't fit in the regular 3.5 bays due to the stupid SATA connections/cables.


Question, is there a problem running RAID on my motherboard with 2 drives on SATA3 and the other 2 on SATA2? (lack of SATA3 connections)? It worked before but wondering if that is frowned upon.