I am preparing to build a new system. My current case, a HAF 932, has lots of room. But once you install a DVD, camera card reader, 1 or 2-bay H 5.5" temp monitor and one or two bay 5.5" liquid coolant reservoirs, you have no room for hot-swappable hard drives via the front loading external bays.
I cannot understand why there are so FEW cases, either mid-tower or full-tower, that keep the lower hard drive bays sealed behind the left-side door of the case. I would like a case with some sort of standardized external access to the lower drive bays via the the left side of the case, so that no bays are "internal only".
The Thermaltake Level 10 series attempts to solve this, and the Level 10 GT is actually affordable.
However, the GT has specialized hard drive trays rather than standardized drive tray form factor. And I would prefer a more standardized "box shape" for my case anyway.
Options that would be acceptable to me:
1. A "double door" left side. Large door over the motherboard area and narrow door covering the drive bays at the bottom.
2. A short door on the left side only covering the motherboard. Bottom bays are external, but mount from the left side of the case, not the front.
Either design would support a big fan between the drive bays and the front of the PC.
Does anybody know of any full-sized tower cases that are made like this? The usual searches have not revealed any promising leads thus far.
Thanks in advance!