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Hey guys, I'm helping build a server for my office. Looking for some tower options in the vein of a Corsair 750D but with hot swap drives. At least 2 hot swap-able bays.

Any and all recommendations are appreciated.

Nuked the duplicate.

The coolermaster HAF HM is the case I use. It has two 2.5" hot swap bays. For additional hot swap bays checkout the Icy Dock stuff on newegg.com

Link for the case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119257

chrissodey wrote:

The coolermaster HAF HM is the case I use. It has two 2.5" hot swap bays. For additional hot swap bays checkout the Icy Dock stuff on newegg.com

Link for the case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119257

Nice Case, But I was actually more drawn to the ICY DOCK stuff. Strangely they don't seem to support 2.5" drives officially... Could a 2.5 cage adapter work with one of those?

Captain Ned wrote:

Nuked the duplicate.

Thanks Cap!

How about one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816215240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816215222

The first one turns a pair of 5.25" bays into three hot-swap 3.5" bays. The second one turns a single 5.25" bay into 6 hot-swap 2.5" bays.

just brew it! wrote:

How about one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816215240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816215222

The first one turns a pair of 5.25" bays into three hot-swap 3.5" bays. The second one turns a single 5.25" bay into 6 hot-swap 2.5" bays.

Those are all great thanks so much. I've put together a build proposal for our server. We are a smallish company so a desktop redesigned with some server functionality is the best course of action.

Thanks.

Whats wrong with the 750D? I have the 800D that I am using and its wonderful. It sits in a closet and is my media server and other things.

tanker27 wrote:

Whats wrong with the 750D? I have the 800D that I am using and its wonderful. It sits in a closet and is my media server and other things.

Nothing is wrong with it was simply absent hot swap bays. Now given the solutions provided I will just plug those into a 750D

kamikaziechameleon wrote:

Nothing is wrong with it was simply absent hot swap bays. Now given the solutions provided I will just plug those into a 750D

I did not realize that. The 800D has hot swap bays.

tanker27 wrote:

kamikaziechameleon wrote:

Nothing is wrong with it was simply absent hot swap bays. Now given the solutions provided I will just plug those into a 750D

I did not realize that. The 800D has hot swap bays.

No worries after much help from this forum and much more digging I've found TONS of awesome Hot swap 5" bay adapters that are PERFECT for the case and my companies usage.

Thanks all again, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

kamikaziechameleon wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

How about one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816215240
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6816215222

The first one turns a pair of 5.25" bays into three hot-swap 3.5" bays. The second one turns a single 5.25" bay into 6 hot-swap 2.5" bays.

Those are all great thanks so much. I've put together a build proposal for our server. We are a smallish company so a desktop redesigned with some server functionality is the best course of action.

Thanks.

I have exactly those same bays, one of each, in my HAF 932 case. I have had no problems and would buy them again.

The only limiting factor is how many SATA ports your motherboard has. Most motherboards don't have 10 ports (assuming one for a DVD drive and 6 X 2.5" and 3 X 3.5").

EDIT: And also...the 6-bay drive can only take 2.5" drives up to 7mm thick. Some SSDs are 9mm, and these will not fit.

Check out Zalmans cases, like this one. http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Produ ... hp?Idx=424

It has great cooling...6 hot swap bays in the bottom with a 92mm fan cooling each of the 2 3 Drive hot swap bays. It also has a hot swap bay on the top of the case for those drives you add here and there to pull data off of them. It comes with a side and a top 200mm cooling fans along with the standard rear 120mm fan.
Zalman stuff is usually very quiet also.

I think it's the perfect case for you.

Vargis, that Zalman case is interesting to me because the hot-swap bays are all truly hot-swap.

To me, hot-swap is not really so if it's not also externally-accessible. Why? Because if I have to remove the side of the case to swap drives, then that means I have to shut down the machine (especially if there's a case fan on the side door), and by definition that is not hot-swap.

The only thing better than the two iStar front docks linked in an earlier post is a case that COMES WITH the bays built in, especially if the case is cost-competitive with the non-hot-swap alternative, because hot swap bays add directly to the cost of the system if the case doesn't come with them.

Of course, if a case comes without them, then that does give me the flexibility to purchase exactly what I need for that system.

BIF wrote:

To me, hot-swap is not really so if it's not also externally-accessible. Why? Because if I have to remove the side of the case to swap drives, then that means I have to shut down the machine (especially if there's a case fan on the side door), and by definition that is not hot-swap.

While I agree that hot swap bays really ought to be externally accessible to be used for their intended purpose, what's this nonsense about needing to shut down to remove the side panel just because you've got a fan on it? I open side panels with fans on them all the time. You just need to have enough slack in the fan wiring to disconnect the fan, or you can even lay down or lean the panel next to the PC with the fan still spinning. Put a wire grill on the fan if you're worried about catching cabling, fingers, pets, small children, etc. in the spinning fan while the panel is off.

I'm a big fan of cube designs. A) They look better for server duty and less like something spawned from a lost episode of Tranzor Z and B) They usually are far more flexible to different needs.

The Lian Li PC D600 might work for you. There's enough space in there to add as many Hot Swap bays as necessary.

just brew it! wrote:

...what's this nonsense about needing to shut down to remove the side panel just because you've got a fan on it? I open side panels with fans on them all the time...

I get that and I don't care. It's not nonsense, it's just my opinion.

I feel quite strongly about wanting clean and fuss-free access for SSD and hard drives. Disk swaps should NEVER require me to lay on the floor to access case door mounting screws in the back while breathing in peanut shells, lost Doritos, pet or people dander, and dust-bunnies. This complicates matters and everytime I open the case with the computer on, that increases the chances that some disastrous electrical event will befall me.

The only time I should have to take the side off of a case is if I'm troubleshooting a hardware problem, replacing or upgrading a non-disk component, or if I'm cleaning heatsinks and radiators.

I'll get dirty for major surgery, but for everything else, I'd rather not have to assume a prone position. And I refuse to be hypnotized into believing that swapping disks qualifies as major surgery.

BIF wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

...what's this nonsense about needing to shut down to remove the side panel just because you've got a fan on it? I open side panels with fans on them all the time...

I get that and I don't care. It's not nonsense, it's just my opinion.

I feel quite strongly about wanting clean and fuss-free access for SSD and hard drives. Disk swaps should NEVER require me to lay on the floor to access case door mounting screws in the back while breathing in peanut shells, lost Doritos, pet or people dander, and dust-bunnies. This complicates matters and everytime I open the case with the computer on, that increases the chances that some disastrous electrical event will befall me.

The only time I should have to take the side off of a case is if I'm troubleshooting a hardware problem, replacing or upgrading a non-disk component, or if I'm cleaning heatsinks and radiators.

I'll get dirty for major surgery, but for everything else, I'd rather not have to assume a prone position. And I refuse to be hypnotized into believing that swapping disks qualifies as major surgery.

I generally agree with you there.

That lianli case is real nice.

I submitted my outline a while ago. They always get flustered when things cost money.

Boss. "Wait, why is it more than 500 dollar?"

Me, "Because buying the 500 dollar option is literally worse than what we currently have"