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.

Lem453,

Used to have a node 304. Very happy I got a hot swap Roswell 4u case

JustEnoughDucks,
@JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl avatar

Have a node 304. Extremely happy with it. Literally unbeatable hard drive and CPU cooler compatibility for its size.

That being said, it only fits 6 drives.

rambos, (edited )

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

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…

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.

Sev5000,

Jonsbo N3 sounds like a good fit

Gormadt,
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

If only there was an ATX or mATX version

Looks hella nice though

Gooey0210,

Lenovo thinkcentre m710q 🫡

colin, (edited )

Just because it’s a bit different to what you asked, and no one else has said it, I’ve found great results with the Terramaster D5-300 and D4-300. Make sure you get the USB 3.1 type Cs, but I’ve been fine with the plain rather than ones loaded with RAID.

For every USB 3.1 socket on the back I get 5 drives, I can increase capacity incrementally, and for spinning rust they are faster than they could transfer anyway.

I’ve replaced my machine with a Dell USFF box now and it all works great.

Completely understand if it’s not your thing but you can add a drive box to your existing system without replacing anything. I’m currently up to 16 drives.

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.

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