Quiet and Cool External SATA RAID Enclosure

blafarm

Junior Member
Jan 27, 2005
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I'm looking for the quietest external enclosure on the market for a 6-8 drive RAID array. I'll be using 3ware's 9550SX-8LP SATA RAID card which doesn't support PM or eSATA -- so I plan to externalize the drives with discrete SATA cables (DAS).

I'll also be using Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SATAII drives which run a little hot and a little loud. I've looked at a bunch of options, including Addonics, MacGuru Burly and a very interesting product from A-Tech Mass Storage, although it's hard to tell if this isn't just a hard drive "oven".

I can't seem to find a really well-designed, quiet and well-cooled enclosure for 6 to 8 drives - and I need something that can "live" in a studio enviroment without being an enormous distraction.

Any suggestions?
 

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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How about an Aerocool Masstige case with a couple of CoolerMaster or Lian Li drive cages (see my review here of drive cages: http://www.techimo.com/reviews/. That could probably hold your entire system - mobo and all. Or if you have a bit more money, the original Coolermaster Stacker as it can hold two PSUs so you won't have to buy one humongous one as a single-Psu case with that many drives might require. Eight HDDs would require 20 Amps of +12V just for the drives (15 Amps for 6 drives) - both include a comfortable margin. Of course you could use individual mobile drive trays like the thing you linked if you wanted to.

Most external enclosures would cost nearly what the Stacker case does - so why bother.

.bh.