Those who are self hosting at home, what case are you using? (Looking for recommendations)

TLDR: If you were building a NAS for 8 HDDs and 1 SSD today, what case would you use?

I’m going to be rebuilding my system soon (currently using an old PowerEdge T610) using one of my other older (R5 1600) systems and I’ve basically hit a road block on picking a case.

I’ve got 8 HDDs that need to fit in the system after it’s rebuilt (plus at least one SSD) so I’m kinda limited in that regard.

The rest of the system is planned out (mostly because I’m reusing old parts) it’s just the case I’m stuck on.

I’m wanting to avoid rack mounting currently mostly due to space (and wanting to keep it under $200)

I was thinking maybe the Fractal Design Define R5, the Fractal Design Node 804, or the Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 but I’m open to suggestions.

EDIT: And for those that want to know why I want to move away from the PowerEdge T610, it’s primarily due to repairability. Primarily the PSU, I don’t want to have to buy used PSUs in case mine dies again.

rambos, (edited )

For 9 disks I would need to print a bigger case, but this one suits me well for now 😉

dan, (edited )
@dan@upvote.au avatar

I really like the Node 804 even though the design is quite old - probably close to ten years old now. Fractal Design are still manufacturing it, which is rare for case designs that old.

I recently built a NAS using an 804. I had to fit mine into my server closet which isn’t deep enough to fit a regular PC case, so the 804 fit my use case well.

I’ve only got three drives in it (2 x 20TB Seagate Exos X20 for data and 1 x 14TB WD Purple Pro for security cameras) but I wanted the ability to expand in the future, and I wanted to use a Micro ATX motherboard rather than a smaller one.

A Noctua NH-D15 fits fine, even though the spec sheet says it won’t fit.

000,

I’m currently using one of the Rosewill rackmount chassis (www.rosewill.com/…/9SIA072GJ92847), fits well in my half rack along with my Unifi gear and HP ProLiant. I probably would’ve gone with something else if I had to buy it though- this was sorta a hand-me-down from a former roommate who didn’t want to take it with him when he left.

spyd4r, (edited )

Fractal Design Define 7

Love fractals build quality

jandefris,

Using a U-NAS NSC-810A. Not the cheapest, but I love having hot pluggable disks with my TrueNAS build.

www.u-nas.com/xcart/cart.php?target=product&p…

LunchEnjoyer,
@LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

Fractal seems far superior at least in the budget range. Personally just bought a R5 second-hand for roughly 40euros. Totally worth it imo 😁

retrieval4558,

I use a fractal design node 304. It’s pretty cool, but has all the limitations and problems you would expect from a case that size.

Cyber,

I have both Fractal Design and SilverStone cases… love them… but the internal layout is not 100% of the consideration

Have a think about airflow and cabling… some of them have weird air flow designs and if you’re putting the machine inside something, or next to something, then that can make more impact on day-to-day use.

For example, I have a Node 304 (not enough drive space for you) because it fits nicely inside Ikea shelving. But the front air flow under the front bezel did mean I keep that machine near the front of the shelf, not pushed back.

And also consider hotswap drive bay caddies that fit smaller drives into large drive bays. Sometimes these have weird power connections, but if you don’t have them do you have enough PSU leads? So, are they absolutely essential? Possibly. Possibly not…

Maybe not the answer you were lookong for, but those are my main considerations now…

SeriousBug,

I can vouch for the node 804, although I haven’t used the others so I can’t say which is the best.

SteveDinn,
@SteveDinn@lemmy.ca avatar

I am using a normal desktop case with an external usb-c 8-bay JBOD drive enclosure from Mediasonic. I’m using mdadm to combine the drives with RAID-6. I know I’m not getting the performance that I could with native SATA, but it can still saturate my 1Gbps network, so it’s good enough for serving video, audio, and some other web-based apps.

lemmyng,

I used a Fractal Design case for a home server in the past. Pretty happy with them.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • selfhosted@lemmy.world
  • localhost
  • All magazines
    •
    Loading…
    Loading the web debug toolbar…
    Attempt #