Help me design an unRAID miniBox recommended build!


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  • 2 weeks later...
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Raj, Im trying to figure out how to cool this case.  It already comes with an 80mm fan on the back and has spots for an 80mm (over the CPU) and a 120mm below it near the bottom of the side of the case.  Should I install a 120mm for intake and have (2) 80mm for out flow?  Im pre-clearing my 3 Seagates now and its showing temps of 47C, 47C, and 51C.

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Raj, Im trying to figure out how to cool this case.  It already comes with an 80mm fan on the back and has spots for an 80mm (over the CPU) and a 120mm below it near the bottom of the side of the case.  Should I install a 120mm for intake and have (2) 80mm for out flow?  Im pre-clearing my 3 Seagates now and its showing temps of 47C, 47C, and 51C.

In my humble opinion, those are dangerously hot.  I've heard of some drives that shut down when they reach 55C.  Put a fan on them NOW.

 

You should shoot for all disks to be under 40C.

 

Joe L.

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They may not survive the preclear at those temps.  You are damaging them every minute they are that hot, and taking away their longevity and reliability.  If you absolutely don't want to stop, get a little fan to blow air in front of them while they are running.  When someone like Joe voices concern about those temps, you should heed the warning and advice.

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  • 3 months later...

With the Rosewill case, you could have a 5 drive cage + 2 individual hot swap drives, right? So 7 on the outside, and then according to specs, 4 on the inside, for a total of 11 drives, correct? I'm not overly concerned about everything being accessible on the front, just as long as the Mobo can handle SATA cards.  I may want an eSATA interface for a dock to transfer current data, or for pre-clearing devices--or I could just use one of the front bays for that.  I'd like more expandability, so I think this will be a better option than picking up the HP I had considered--though that is more compact and probably more energy efficient. 

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Assuming you are talking about this case, no, that isn't correct.  The 5-in-3 hot swap cage will take up all available 5.25" bays.  The two 3.5" bays could be used for drives mounted internally, but they won't be external hot swap bays.  The interior of the case can hold a total of 6 drives (2 in the 3.5" external bays, and 4 in the 3.5" internal bays).  So the total would be 5 external + 6 internal = 11 drives.

 

Keep in mind that I've never packed this case with that many drives.  You may encounter heat issues with the internal drives.  Honestly, if you want to support that many drives, I would suggest investing in a better case.  This case is fairly compact, so the cabling for 11 drives will be somewhat difficult as there won't be much room.  The cabling will also impact airflow...

 

For a 10+ drive server, I would suggest a larger case such as the Azza Helios 910.  You can use either internal or external (hot swap) drive bays and get at least 9 drives easily.  If you use some 5-in-3s you can surpass 10 drives.  Cooling and cabling will be much easier as you'll have much more room to work with.

 

If you want a 10 drive server with a small physical size, then you'll have to look into a highly-customized case such as Queeg's TinyTen.  Queeg is currently building servers for others (see here) so I expect he would be willing to either create a custom TinyTen case for you or even build you a complete server.

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Thanks.  I'll probably go with the Rosewill you listed.  Maybe I could modify it myself? Not sure what's involved--may be getting in over my head  :D

 

So what would the purpose of external 3.5" bays be? I guess I've found the ability to hold 2.5" drives in 1 3.5" bay? No way to be able to remove 3.5" drive from a 3.5" bay without opening the tower, huh?

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Correct, you could have a hot swappable 2.5" drive or two, but not 3.5".  3.5" external bays are a bit of a legacy at this point - they used to be used for floppy drives.  These days, the only way in which I find them useful is for something like a multi card reader, a fan controller, or for extra ports (USB, eSATA, etc.).  In an unRAID server they tend to not be terribly useful, which is why I prefer cases with lots of 5.25" bays instead.

 

I certainly won't discourage you from modding the case yourself, but I just suggest studying Queeg's TinyTen thread to see what is involved...

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