Tower Cases for FreeNAS homeserver

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Hi everyone,

having read cyberjocks hardware guide I searched a more specific thread about tower cases for FreeNAS homeservers and found none. So that's why I started this one.
Doing some search in the forum and internet here are some tower cases that are suitable for FreeNAS purposes imho.

I'd be happy for more recommendations and discussions/opinions about specific cases.
I'll extend/modify the list in the future.

  • mini-ITX
    • LIAN-LI PC-Q26A/B, 10 x 3.5 HDDs, 1x 2.5, no 5.25 external, 3 x 120mm fans @ HDDs
      Size: 200 x 395 x 410 mm³ (W x H x D)
      Price: ~ € 180 (geizhals); not listed in newegg so far

    • Fractal Design Node 304, 6 x 3.5 HDDs, 1x 92mm fan @ HDDs
      Size: 250 x 210 x 374 mm³ (W x H x D)
      Price: ~ € 80 (geizhals)

    • Silverstone DS380, 8x 3.5 HDDs hotswappable + 4x 2.5 slots internal, 3 x 120mm fans (1x rear, 2 at side of HDDs)
      Size: 211 x 285 x 360 mm³ (W x H x D)
      Price: ~ € 150 (geizhals); ~ $ 150 (newegg) Thanks @INCSlayer
  • µ-ATX
    • Nanoxia Deep Silence 4, 6x 3.5 HDDs internal, 2x 5.25 external, 1 x 120mm fan @ HDDs
      Size: 200 x 380 x 480mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: dust filters, sound damping, HDD decoupling
      Price: ~ € 65 (geizhals); ~ $ 90 (amazon.com)

    • Fractal Design Node 804, 8x 3.5 + 2x 2.5"/3.5, 1x 5.25 slimline, 1 x 120mm fan @ HDDs
      Size: 344 x 307 x 389mm³ (W x H x D)
      Remarks: HDD decoupling
      Price: ~ € 100 (geizhals)
  • ATX
    • Fractal Design R5, 8 x 3.5 HDDs + 2 x 2.5 HDDs, 2x 5.25 external, 2 x 140mm fans @ HDDs
      Size: 232 x 451 x 532 mm³ (W x H x D)
      Remarks: dust filters, sound damping, HDD decoupling
      Price: ~ € 100 (geizhals); ~ $ 100 (newegg)

    • Sharkoon Rebel9, 9x 5.25 external (HDDs via HotSwap cage)
      Size: 202 x 440 x 455 mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: cheap case, but might offer up to 15 internal 3.5 HDDs with cages.
      Price: ~ € 40 (geizhals); not listed in newegg

      Only 6x 5.25 external; thanks @Ericloewe for the correction
      instead:
    • Sharkoon T9 Value, 9x 5.25 external (HDDs via HotSwap cage)
      Size: 200 x 440 x 475mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: cheap case, can offer space for up to 15 hotswap 3.5 HDDs (5in3 cage)
      Price: ~ € 60 (geizhals); not listed in newegg

    • Antec Twelve Hundred, 12x 5.25 external (HDDs via HotSwap cage)
      Size: 213 x 582 x 513 mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: Gamer case, can offer up to 20 internal 3.5 HDDs with cages.
      Price: ~ € 160 (geizhals); ~$ 180 in newegg (promo until 6/14/2015 for $ 135) Thanks @Jailer
    • Cooler Master N400, 8x 3.5 bays (1 exposed, 7 hidden) + 3x 2.5 bays + 2x 5.25 bays (exposed)
      Size: 202 x 378 x 445 mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: cheap case, good ventilation possible
      Price: ~ € 45 (geizhals); ~ $ 60 (newegg) Thanks @Trapizomba
      Manufacturer; Review1

  • E-ATX
    • Nanoxia Deep Silence 5 rev.B, 11 x 3.5 HDDs, 4x 5.25 external, 2 x 140mm fans @ HDDs
      Size: 232 x 550 x 550 mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: dust filters, sound damping, HDD decoupling
      Price: ~ € 120 (geizhals); not listed in newegg so far

    • Fractal Design Define XL R2, 8x 3.5 HDDs, 4 x 5.25 external, 2x 140 mm fans @ HDDs
      Size: 232 x 559 x 560 mm³ (W x D x H)
      Remarks: dust filters, sound damping, HDD decoupling
      Price: ~ € 125 (geizhals)
[Update: added first recommendations from posts]
 
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pirateghost

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I put my FreeNAS in my old Lian Li g343 cube. With all the 5.25 bays filled (+ the rear drive adapter) I can hold 33 hard drives
 

Ericloewe

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The Sharkoon Rebel9 is a bad choice compared to the T9, which has more 5.25" drive bays, allowing for more hotswap bays.

If you want easy-to-access drives, my setup (posssibly with a Zalman MS800 instead of the Sharkoon T9) is the best solution I know of, short of a rackmount.
 

Jailer

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I've got mine set up in an Antec 1200. You could could get 20 drives in it using 5in3 cages in place of the cages they come with.
 

Glorious1

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Seems like first you have to decide what size case you need, based on other components, then look at the options in that size. There's no point picking a case you like and then conforming a build to it.

I don't know why the Lian Li PC-Q26 wouldn't be on Newegg. I bought mine there in December. Maybe it's a different version of Newegg in Europe. I've been quite happy with the case.
 

INCSlayer

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Trapizomba

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I'm using the Cooler Master N400 (http://us.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/case/n-series/n400.html).

It is a mid-tower case...

It supports up to 8 fans, up to 3 SSDs and have 8x 3.5” Device Bays
(1 Exposed and 7 Hidden).

The cable management is poor... But the case size is good (fits where I need at my home).

It comes with 2x USB 3.0 connectors on the front, but I removed them so no cable loose inside the case saving some space too...

6798e960724e9fc941b2ffce070aa9a4.jpg


554cbdc9ad723be92c19b7e358b0ab78.jpg



Enviado do meu iPad usando Tapatalk
 

joeschmuck

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Looking at your future build specs it looks like you already know your components and you know you need space for 6 hard drives, 1 SSD, and then you only need to figure out the size of the MB. So find something that you will be happy with. I personally only look for functionality of the case and cost of course. I could care less what it looks like. My case is actually big and ugly but I purchased it for it's hard drive capacity, ventilation flow, and heavy metal construction. Also I wanted a very quiet system so this case offers that to me as well with a few well places low speed cooling fans (you can't tell it's running unless you see the lights on or you put your ear up to the case).

And honestly, you shouldn't have to spend $100 or more on a case for a NAS. Here is my case and I paid $59 on sale in October 2013. I'm not promoting my case but you can purchase a good solid and durable case for a reasonable cost.
 

Trapizomba

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And honestly, you shouldn't have to spend $100 or more on a case for a NAS. Here is my case and I paid $59 on sale in October 2013. I'm not promoting my case but you can purchase a good solid and durable case for a reasonable cost.

That is a really nice case!

I didn't buy one because it is a little bit taller and deeper than the N400... :(


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JoeVulture

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Looking at your future build specs it looks like you already know your components and you know you need space for 6 hard drives, 1 SSD, and then you only need to figure out the size of the MB. So find something that you will be happy with. I personally only look for functionality of the case and cost of course. I could care less what it looks like. My case is actually big and ugly but I purchased it for it's hard drive capacity, ventilation flow, and heavy metal construction. Also I wanted a very quiet system so this case offers that to me as well with a few well places low speed cooling fans (you can't tell it's running unless you see the lights on or you put your ear up to the case).

And honestly, you shouldn't have to spend $100 or more on a case for a NAS. Here is my case and I paid $59 on sale in October 2013. I'm not promoting my case but you can purchase a good solid and durable case for a reasonable cost.
In an attempt to not be a packrat, I got rid of a Lian Li LanCool PC-K12B case, and I kind of regret it. However, at the time I got rid of it, I intended to stay in the ITX size and have only four drives to make it easier to hide someplace (I live in a one bedroom apartment, space is at a bit of a premium).

It had decent cooling, and I also had a couple of Supermicro CSE-M35T-1B hot-swap trays - however, I wasn't smart enough to use them properly. I was using Linux (I built that server a long time ago), was using SATA cards with individual cables and didn't do a good job in trying to replace the fans. :eek: Of course knowing what I know now thanks to these excellent forums, instead of buying a FreeNAS Mini, I might have built up that chassis with 10 drives in a couple of pools and used a SAS controller with SAS to SATA breakout cables (and two SATA to SATA for the five drive in each of those how-swap trays).

-- Joe
 

solarisguy

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Looking at your future build specs it looks like you already know your components and you know you need space for 6 hard drives, 1 SSD, and then you only need to figure out the size of the MB. So find something that you will be happy with. I personally only look for functionality of the case and cost of course. I could care less what it looks like. My case is actually big and ugly but I purchased it for it's hard drive capacity, ventilation flow, and heavy metal construction. Also I wanted a very quiet system so this case offers that to me as well with a few well places low speed cooling fans (you can't tell it's running unless you see the lights on or you put your ear up to the case).

And honestly, you shouldn't have to spend $100 or more on a case for a NAS. Here is my case and I paid $59 on sale in October 2013. I'm not promoting my case but you can purchase a good solid and durable case for a reasonable cost.
One of my cases is Cooler Master CM 690 III, a bigger brother of his case (bigger by 11mm in one direction and 22mm in another). I have replaced the installed fans and installed more. I used screws, rubber grommets and washers when mounting hard drives to minimize vibrations, but not all screws are in good positions...

I do not remember now, why I had originally eliminated Cooler Master HAF 912. But almost immediately I was blessed that I had Cooler Master CM 690 III and not HAF 912, because on more than one occasion, I had used the extra space inside to house disks when transferring data between pools.

I have a setup similar to yours, as I have a separate pool for jails and .system. However, I have it mirrored. And now I am moving towards the boot pool on mirrored SSDs (and it will include .system). See
It turns out we DO want to allow the .system dataset to live on the freenas-boot pool
https://bugs.freenas.org/issues/9353

That is 6 WD Reds and 2 x 2.5" for jails and 2 x 2.5" for boot and .system

P.S.
I have no idea why newegg has Cooler Master CM 690 III for more than 99 dollars... And Amazon US pricing is just ridiculous. Amazon DE sells Cooler Master CM 690 III for realistic 83 Euros. (I have no idea about your location, but you quoted everything in Euros).
 
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