Multi Bay HDD Cage/Enclosure

[DigitalFreak111]

I'm looking to add more HDD's (~5) to my HP Z600 workstation (got 2x5.25" and 2x3.25" but 6 SATA ports).

I'm Considering following options:

Option A: Add 3 in 2 Bay - This will give me only 3 more and loose DVD/RW - May have power and cooling issues (WS has only 650W).

Option B: External 5 Bay with Port Multiplier - Orico 5-bay/Mediasonic ProBox ones looks cool but all HDDs together are limited to single lane (6 Gbps).

Option C: Some combo of Option A and B. Such as external 5-HDD cage with in built power supply, so that each HDD is connected by their own individual cable to a 5-port PCIe x4 card.

Do you know of any that exists under Option C?
I looked almost all external enclosures, and don't understand why everthing is Port-Multiplied if the speed is limited.

(I have no experience with SAS connectors.)
Please help / share your opinions and suggestions,
Thanks

 

[EarthwormJim]

You're not going to have heat issues with a 3 in 2 bay. There's plenty of room around the drives in that configuration, and all racks have a fan. 5 in 3 bays are the ones that are very cramped.

650W is a ton of power. You're not going to overload it by adding 50-75 watts of hard drive loads to it. You would need a couple large graphics cards to approach 650W. One workstation CPU and one workstation card are well well below 650W.


Why do you need 5 drives by the way? Capacity or does your application need throughput? You could consider 2.5" drives if you are not capacity limited. That would let you fit all the drives in 2x5.25 bays.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I would suggest something like this...
http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/totr4baysass1.html
plus a cheap SAS HBA

to get the 5th SATA drive you could just add a 5.25" to 3.5" hot swap enclosure
like so...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817997016

 

[Socio]

Might want to check out the ICY DOCK cages the new ones even come with a couple of USB 3.0 ports if you need them.

http://www.icydock.com/goods_cat.php?id=114

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Thanks for your reply EarthwormJim.

The 3 in 2 cages (hot swap) ones i saw all are too lengthy (KF-3002-BK, AMS DS-236TL), the thing is Z600 is already cramped and everything is a tight fit. Feels like I will not have space for good fan at the back of the cage. (The reason i feel this HP Z600 is cramped b'coz i used to own CM HAF930! - which i sold recently.). More over I loose DVD RW may be I can do external!

Yes i do have beefy graphics card, NVIDIA 4000, 16GB RAM and bunch of fans, hence are my concerns for power for 5 more drives.

I already have these HDDs sitting from my previous HAF. Yes capacity is the priority before speed. I'm curious if there is any way to add all drives without loosing speed!.

You're not going to have heat issues with a 3 in 2 bay. There's plenty of room around the drives in that configuration, and all racks have a fan. 5 in 3 bays are the ones that are very cramped.

650W is a ton of power. You're not going to overload it by adding 50-75 watts of hard drive loads to it. You would need a couple large graphics cards to approach 650W. One workstation CPU and one workstation card are well well below 650W.


Why do you need 5 drives by the way? Capacity or does your application need throughput? You could consider 2.5" drives if you are not capacity limited. That would let you fit all the drives in 2x5.25 bays.

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Thanks for reply, Arcanedeath.

I'm currently looking at these, like I said I need to familiarize myself with SAS, looks like I can manage both speed and capacity with these.

Are there any "cool" looking models, may be with hot swap or Aluminum, other than Sans Digital. I some how hate their filmsy steel cases.
(I fell in love Orico 5-bay USB 3.0 and eSATA and can't seem to get out of it!)

Thanks.

I would suggest something like this...
http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/totr4baysass1.html
plus a cheap SAS HBA

to get the 5th SATA drive you could just add a 5.25" to 3.5" hot swap enclosure
like so...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817997016

 

[Socio]

Here you go, these will let you use either SAS or individual SATA cables.

http://istarusa.com/drivecages/bpndespec.php

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Thanks Socio,

Looking at these, now i'm thinking to use iStar 5 bay cage as external box with standalone power supply/adapter, and connect to host PC via 5 port SATA card.

Do you see anything wrong with this setup?

Here you go, these will let you use either SAS or individual SATA cables.

http://istarusa.com/drivecages/bpndespec.php

 

[EarthwormJim]

Thanks for your reply EarthwormJim.

The 3 in 2 cages (hot swap) ones i saw all are too lengthy (KF-3002-BK, AMS DS-236TL), the thing is Z600 is already cramped and everything is a tight fit. Feels like I will not have space for good fan at the back of the cage. (The reason i feel this HP Z600 is cramped b'coz i used to own CM HAF930! - which i sold recently.). More over I loose DVD RW may be I can do external!

Yes i do have beefy graphics card, NVIDIA 4000, 16GB RAM and bunch of fans, hence are my concerns for power for 5 more drives.

I already have these HDDs sitting from my previous HAF. Yes capacity is the priority before speed. I'm curious if there is any way to add all drives without loosing speed!.

I would honestly stick with Chenbro if you're looking to buy a rack or external SAS enclosure. They're standard on many ready to buy servers/workstations. As such, you can usually find them for very cheap from liquidations on ebay.

I bought two Chenbro 5 in 3x5.25 racks for $50 each.

Here's a 3 in 2 rack, you're sure you can't squeeze in 200-220mm in length? Quite a few CD-ROM drives are almost 200mm in length.

http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=62


I also have one ICY DOCK rack. Avoid it like the plague. Ventilation is very poor, the handles are flimsy, it's really just an overall poor product compared to Chenbro or even iStar.


You'll be more than fine power wise. RAM is on the low side, even that much, and you only have one workstation graphics card.

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Thanks Socio and EarthwormJim,

(This is second time i'm posting - don't know where my posts are going!)

Now I'm thinking of using Chenbro / iStar - 4 bay cage externally with an external power adapter and connect them to host PC via individual SATA cables (4 port eSATA to SATA plate adapter).

Do you see any issues with this setup?

Thanks again.

Here you go, these will let you use either SAS or individual SATA cables.

http://istarusa.com/drivecages/bpndespec.php

 

[Arcanedeath]

You could do something like this that comes with the host card and cables but it supports 8 drives not just 5 and is more expensive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816111175

Just the enclosure w/ cables is cheaper, you would then need to get your own SAS HBA / raid card.

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Thanks Arcanedeath.

Wow looks like thats what I want, but thats too expensive and too big for me. I tried to look for 4 bay ones couldn't find any.

I ran across some pretty good Aluminum, JBOD, 4-Bay SAS Enclosure such as Proavio EB400MS, Netstor NS750S.

http://www.proavio.com/index.php/products/desktop/eb400ms

http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?MjY=

Are there any similar that are available in US? These are exactly what i'm looking for...(JBOD, SAS/individual SATA, 4/5 Bay external enclosure).

If i can't find any under $200-$250 or so i will proabably settle for USB3/eSATA (PM) enclosure for now. And may be put together something later. What do you guys think of modding something like Chenbro/iStar cage to make it an external enclosure - do you know of any guiding info in that aspect?

(By the way, there is only about 175mm length space for 5.25" bay.)

Thanks again for replies.

You could do something like this that comes with the host card and cables but it supports 8 drives not just 5 and is more expensive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816111175

Just the enclosure w/ cables is cheaper, you would then need to get your own SAS HBA / raid card.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Thanks Arcanedeath.

Wow looks like thats what I want, but thats too expensive and too big for me. I tried to look for 4 bay ones couldn't find any.

I ran across some pretty good Aluminum, JBOD, 4-Bay SAS Enclosure such as Proavio EB400MS, Netstor NS750S.

http://www.proavio.com/index.php/products/desktop/eb400ms

http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?MjY=

Are there any similar that are available in US? These are exactly what i'm looking for...(JBOD, SAS/individual SATA, 4/5 Bay external enclosure).

If i can't find any under $200-$250 or so i will proabably settle for USB3/eSATA (PM) enclosure for now. And may be put together something later. What do you guys think of modding something like Chenbro/iStar cage to make it an external enclosure - do you know of any guiding info in that aspect?

(By the way, there is only about 175mm length space for 5.25" bay.)

Thanks again for replies.

Shouldn't be much to making a Chenbro case external. Just either make or buy long molex connectors, and 36 inch SATA cables. You could run all the cabling through a free PCI slot.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10226&cs_id=1022602&p_id=5123&seq=1&format=2

Only downside is you'll have a SATA cable for each drive, so that's up to 5 data cables you have to deal with.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Here is the link for the 4 bay version of the SAS enclosure
http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/totr4baysass1.html
you'll still need a cheap SAS raid or HBA

edit: note the new ones are around $199 on the same site, getting refurbished saves around $50

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Thanks guys.

Sorry for the delayed response, I'm midst of moving apts ...

I have been researching about Mini SAS cages such as Sans Digital - all available reasonably priced ones are limted to 8TB and 10Gbps.

I found DAT Optic sBOX-4e ($270) which has 4xeSATA with full bandwidth (24 Gbps) and 12TB. I like this option very much and I can't believe I could not find similar boxes anywhere. What am I missing?. Any one know similar ones with better looks/robustness? Or any opinions on sBOX-4e?

http://www.datoptic.com/four-hot-swap-sataiii-6gb-enclosure.html

Now I'm seriously considering connecting a 4-in-3 cage externally...and more silly now i am on hunt for a decent length (36") SATA to eSATA shielded cable possibly with multiple color option. Anybody know one?

Thanks for all your input.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Did you check monoprice for SATA cables?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10226

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10226&cs_id=1022603&p_id=8792&seq=1&format=2

 

[DigitalFreak111]

Extremely sorry for delayed update...
(I just barely moved to new apt and never got a chance)

Anyways, I finally ended up getting NORCO SS-500 Cage (which is great piece for ~$80 bucks). Connected it 'externally' to a Dual channel SATA card and MB directly via adapter plate.

I have all my HDDs up and running. Thanks everyone.

Now, I am looking in to back-up options. I know basics of RAID but no practical knowledge of RAID. I'm currently going thru online research on software RAID but more inclined towards periodic back ups.
I have 3 HDDs (1TB, 2TB and 3TB) that I want to duplicate back up to 3 identical HDDs (1TB, 2TB and 3TB). What do you think is my best option?
Any suggestions are welcome.

Automatic solutions like spinning/powering down the duplicate HD when not in use etc will be great b'coz i'm runing out of power.

Thanks again.

 

[teocekn]

for 3-in-2 bay, try Evercool ARMOR Model: HD-AR-B. am using one in a Z600. fit nicely without taking up too much depth.

a pic of the rear end of the cage with two drives ( installed inside a Z600 )
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByfRCRkF0p2BSmd6MkJpZGlKODg/edit?usp=sharing