Budget External Chassis

[gdreade]

I, too, need to expand an already large system (36TB raw to at least 72TB). I was thinking about putting another pool into an external chassis. Does anyone have experience with the Sans Digital TR8X6G? That uses two SFF-8088 mini-SAS, so presumably the previous comments about SATA-attached Sans Digitals wouldn't apply.

Other recommendations for a budget chassis are welcome. I'm also perusing SuperMicro units (it looks like some of them can be used as external chassis?)

BTW, by "budget" I mean that I can potentially pass on things like hot swap. It doesn't mean that being flakey is ok.

 

[cyberjock]

I don't know anyone that has tried to use one. It seems like a fairly safe bet. I don't think it has an internal SAS expander, it just has power and cabling from the external connector to the disks. So I think it would be a fairly safe bet.

But, being that that doesn't look extensively used around here, you're a guinea pig if you buy it. ;)