- Sep 28, 2006
- 642
- 0
- 71
I was given a Rocketfish case, brand new in an unopened box by a friend. I figured I wouldn't let it go to waste. I'm working on it, just little by little whenever I get some free time between my busy college schedule.
I figured since the case is so large, it would make sense to use it as my file server case. Currently I have a Lian-Li A05 w/ eSATA 8-bay Sans Digital hot swap running Windows Home Server.. as seen below.
I'm sitting at about 9TB right now (8x1TB + 2x750GB). Total, my system only draws about 110w as it sits there idle. All the 1TB drives are Western Digital GreenPower and the 750's are some crappy Seagates that will probably die any minute.
I really like the Sans Digital 8-bay eSATA enclosure, so I think I'll leave that be and keep it. I am working on expanding the storage space of the Rocketfish to accommodate between 17 and 19 hard drives. That should be perfect for future expansion.
I modified the 5.25'' bays by taking out the horizontal metal pieces that would prevent putting in 4-in-3 or 5-in-3 hot swaps. This was accomplished by drilling out some holes in the front so I could access the screws with my screwdriver.
Then I cut off the 3.5'' bay holder just enough so it still holds the front bezel covers. This is so I can stack up two hard drive racks vertically in the floor of the case. The bottom floor of the 5.25'' bay area also had to be cut because the two drive racks stacked up are about an eighth inch too tall to fit underneath.
You'll notice I also re-mounted the hard drive rack locations so they are facing backwards. This makes wire management 10x easier so all the cables will be hidden out the back side. That also required cutting the motherboard tray so I can pull the hard drives out the back.
I threw on some wire sleeving on the front panel wires. (LEDs, USB, Audio, Firewire)
So, there's where we stand as of right now. Here's some shots with the panels put back on:
I figured since the case is so large, it would make sense to use it as my file server case. Currently I have a Lian-Li A05 w/ eSATA 8-bay Sans Digital hot swap running Windows Home Server.. as seen below.
I'm sitting at about 9TB right now (8x1TB + 2x750GB). Total, my system only draws about 110w as it sits there idle. All the 1TB drives are Western Digital GreenPower and the 750's are some crappy Seagates that will probably die any minute.
I really like the Sans Digital 8-bay eSATA enclosure, so I think I'll leave that be and keep it. I am working on expanding the storage space of the Rocketfish to accommodate between 17 and 19 hard drives. That should be perfect for future expansion.
I modified the 5.25'' bays by taking out the horizontal metal pieces that would prevent putting in 4-in-3 or 5-in-3 hot swaps. This was accomplished by drilling out some holes in the front so I could access the screws with my screwdriver.
Then I cut off the 3.5'' bay holder just enough so it still holds the front bezel covers. This is so I can stack up two hard drive racks vertically in the floor of the case. The bottom floor of the 5.25'' bay area also had to be cut because the two drive racks stacked up are about an eighth inch too tall to fit underneath.
You'll notice I also re-mounted the hard drive rack locations so they are facing backwards. This makes wire management 10x easier so all the cables will be hidden out the back side. That also required cutting the motherboard tray so I can pull the hard drives out the back.
I threw on some wire sleeving on the front panel wires. (LEDs, USB, Audio, Firewire)
So, there's where we stand as of right now. Here's some shots with the panels put back on:
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter