From tower to rack

[joncy92]

Hi Everyone. I currently have a Supermicro X10Drl-i motherboard with 4 storage disks attached and truenas installed on SSD
I have the hardware housed in a tower case
I am now almost completely out of storage and need to add additional hard drives but I have no physical room to store them

I am looking to upgrade to a rackmount chassis and I'm wondering if I'm better off getting a 4u chassis and housing both the server hardware and disks in one chassis or separate the two by having the server in a smaller rackmount chassis and connect the disks via a DAS chassis (or something like that...)

I'm not sure what the benefits are of each but I'm open to suggestions.
I have a budget of about £800 but I'd rather not use all of that

Thanks in advanced!

 

[Jessep]

Business?
Home lab?
Noise/Sound requirements?

Current storage space?
Storage space growth rate?

Reasons you want to move to rack?
Or would you rather stay with tower (i.e. buy a better case)?
Do you have need for hot swap (very few do).

Easiest buy a Fractal Design Define 7 and additional drive trays (maybe additional fans, Noctua).

Define 7

The Define 7 is the latest pinnacle of the renowned Define series, setting a new standard for what you should expect from a mid-tower case when it comes to modularity, flexibility and ease of use.

www.fractal-design.com

 

[joncy92]

Business?
Home lab?
Noise/Sound requirements?

Current storage space?
Storage space growth rate?

Reasons you want to move to rack?
Or would you rather stay with tower (i.e. buy a better case)?
Do you have need for hot swap (very few do).

Easiest buy a Fractal Design Define 7 and additional drive trays (maybe additional fans, Noctua).

Define 7

The Define 7 is the latest pinnacle of the renowned Define series, setting a new standard for what you should expect from a mid-tower case when it comes to modularity, flexibility and ease of use.

www.fractal-design.com

Home lab. Sound not really an issue. It can't be super loud but all the equipment is in the loft/attic so noise is pretty well insulated.

Ideally I want to move it to a rack mount case. I have a Unifi router and switch which are rack mounted so it's much tidier for me.

I don't actually mind the look of that fractal you linked to - my only concern is I'm already out of space and I'm looking to add 4-6 drives immediately and they will also fill up pretty fast with the addition home lab services I have planned (I'm a massive data hoarder).
With a tower case I'm not sure the airflow is good enough to cool down many drives packed together quite closely.

Investing in a rack mount case seems more logical in the long run

One problem I am having is finding a second hand/decommissioned one.
Supermicro in particular are impossible to find :(

 

[Jessep]

Define 7 will hold 14 drives (with additional trays). Though cabling would get annoying.

Cheap + LAF (loud as f***) would be:

https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/hp-cloudline-cl3100-g3-1u-12x-3-5-lff-4x-2-5-sff-configure-to-order?utm_source=banner&utm_medium=homepage-grid&utm_campaign=homepage-grid&utm_id=homepage&utm_content=text-link

Video tour/review:

HPE Cloudline CL3100 G3 Power, Network, HDD & Rack - 1124

This video is sponsored by Bargain Hardware, who asked if I would review there 1U HPE Cloudline CL3100 G3 server. This server is spicial with the 12 internal...

www.youtube.com

Or poke around on that site for other options, I'm assuming you are in UK.

 

[joncy92]

Define 7 will hold 14 drives (with additional trays). Though cabling would get annoying. Cheap + LAF (loud as f***) would be:

https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/hp-cloudline-cl3100-g3-1u-12x-3-5-lff-4x-2-5-sff-configure-to-order?utm_source=banner&utm_medium=homepage-grid&utm_campaign=homepage-grid&utm_id=homepage&utm_content=text-link

Video tour/review:

HPE Cloudline CL3100 G3 Power, Network, HDD & Rack - 1124

This video is sponsored by Bargain Hardware, who asked if I would review there 1U HPE Cloudline CL3100 G3 server. This server is spicial with the 12 internal...

www.youtube.com

Or poke around on that site for other options, I'm assuming you are in UK.

T

Define 7 will hold 14 drives (with additional trays). Though cabling would get annoying.

Cheap + LAF (loud as f***) would be:

https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/hp-cloudline-cl3100-g3-1u-12x-3-5-lff-4x-2-5-sff-configure-to-order?utm_source=banner&utm_medium=homepage-grid&utm_campaign=homepage-grid&utm_id=homepage&utm_content=text-link

Video tour/review:

HPE Cloudline CL3100 G3 Power, Network, HDD & Rack - 1124

This video is sponsored by Bargain Hardware, who asked if I would review there 1U HPE Cloudline CL3100 G3 server. This server is spicial with the 12 internal...

www.youtube.com

Or poke around on that site for other options, I'm assuming you are in UK.

Thank you and I certainly am in the UK. I thought with this store you purchase servers. Can you actually just buy cases 'unconfigured'. ?