Looking for a case with easy FRONT hot swap bays

[alexruiz]

I am looking for a case that has hot swap bays in the front, and they have to be easy and fast to use.

The case will be in the computer space of a desk, those that just fit the tower, hence side hot swap bays (thermaltake level 10gt) won't work, and those cases with dock on top won't work either. I have currently a Xion gaming predator 970 with 2 hot swap bays in the front, and it works fine, but the fact that the hard drives have to be screwed to a tray before using the bays take a lot of the appeal

Something where the hard drive could go directly to the bay, or just 2 snap on rails would work wonders. The Coolermaster elite 431 seems to have a good front dock, but I am not crazy about the case.

What case do you recommend?


Thanks

PS. Also, do you know of any good case with a top handle thats helps to move it often that also has hot swap bays (these can be side mounted or top)

 

[frostedflakes]

Not sure if you were aware but they make 3.5" hot swap bays that fit in standard 5.25" drive slots, probably be a lot easier to find one of those that will fit your needs and stick it in any case than it would to find a case that has front hot swaps and all the other features you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817994075

Just one example, NewEgg has a pretty wide selection.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

PS. Also, do you know of any good case with a top handle thats helps to move it often that also has hot swap bays (these can be side mounted or top)

I wouldn't consider that an absolute requirement - you can get case handles aftermarket easily enough.

 

[Sherman Bay]

This may not be hot-swap, but you can get a 5-bay trayless enclosure that fills up a 3-bay slot in a tower case. The box for mine says "hot-swap RAID ready," but I haven't tested it as RAID or hot-swap.

You might also look into a Drobo unit, which is hot-swap and sort of a proprietary super-RAID.

 

[alexruiz]

Super thanks for the suggestions guys!
They were eye opening

Looking now for the right hot swap bay

 

[jdcooper]

@Sherman Bay - do you have that 5-in-3 backplane? I am having a hard time finding one that doesn't have terrible reviews.

 

[Sherman Bay]

@Sherman Bay - do you have that 5-in-3 backplane? I am having a hard time finding one that doesn't have terrible reviews.

I have one in use right now. However, in all fairness, 2 of the slots might be defective. I say might, because I don't want to test it too thoroughly and run the risk of serious data loss, but when I plug in a working drive addressed to E:, some of the other drives became non-addressable. This might NOT be the fault of the sub-unit, or it might (but it seems unlikely).

To test this adequately, I'd have to back up all 5 2-TB drives, then spend hours working on it. So I haven't done that. Right now, I'm using it in a 3-drive mode.

I'm also puzzled why 2 of the drive-access lights are always on at a low-level. Since everything else seems to work, I've been ignoring this, too.

Can you link to some unfavorable reviews? I'd like to see if my problems match others before I build my next desktop.

 

[PCTC2]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA

Supermicro. 'nuff said.

 

[Sherman Bay]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA

How can that be made hot-swap? Doesn't the OS need to know if a drive is being removed to avoid data loss or corruption? Is there a driver/interface involved that handles that?