5.25" expanders for more 3.5" drives

[file_haver]

Hello everyone,

Has anyone used a device like this to cram 3-4 more 3.5" drives into a pair of adjacent 5.25" bays? I currently have an Icy dock 2.5" + 3.5" to 5.25" bay in my spare NAS which can only house two 3.5" drives on its own, without direct cooling on the drives so they run around 37-39c.

https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-MB0...+dock+2.5+3.5&qid=1552761015&s=gateway&sr=8-8

Additionally, I've always run FreeNAS on tower PC's i cobbled together, so if it's not worth it to spend this much on drive mounts and that money is better spent on a different chassis, i'm all ears.

 

[nikalai2]

Hello,

I have used Lian Li EX-36A2 (Silver) in Antec Ninteen Hundred . I bought it because it was cheaper.



Unfortunately it's EOL now.

I used the stock fan, is not so loud. Temps were ok also. (I think this depends on the airflow from the case too). After 5-6 months i had the chance to buy a used Supermicro 846 server for a very good price. Once you go 24 bay is no turning back. :D

Before buying Antec case i used Fractal Design Black Pearl R3 (it's a greate case but it has only 2 5.25 drive bays and 8 3.5 hdd trays) my thought was to use this externally (very bad ideea). I have a cat wich is very curious and she had a passion for cables, especially if they are colored.


Until you buy a new case you can use these kind of solution until you are ready to buy another chasis.

 

[Yorick]

Summoning @Chris Moore - I have a niggle in what’s left of my brain that these cheap sata backplanes can be less than reliable and introduce errors, but I have no personal experience and don’t want to panic you about hardware that might be perfectly fine.

 

[Chris Moore]

Summoning @Chris Moore - I have a niggle in what’s left of my brain that these cheap sata backplanes can be less than reliable and introduce errors, but I have no personal experience and don’t want to panic you about hardware that might be perfectly fine.

They make one of those Icy Dock models that has a SATA port multiplier in it. SATA port multipliers can create problems that you just don't want to deal with.

I've always run FreeNAS on tower PC's i cobbled together, so if it's not worth it to spend this much on drive mounts and that money is better spent on a different chassis, i'm all ears.

If you are just looking for a bracket to hold drives and not worried about the blue LEDs, you would have a hard time beating the price of these. Four drive bays for $15:
https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RSV-3-5-Inch-Cage-RASA-11001/dp/B005FHHOXE
They are not for me, because I am spoiled. I want my hot-swap drive bays, but if you want actual, usable, hot-swap bays that are going to be reasonably reliable, you will need to spend enough money that buying a used server chassis starts looking very attractive, which is the reason I bought the ones I have.

Depends a lot on what you want out of the deal. What are your goals?
If you just want a super cheap way to mount drives, take a look at this:
https://www.ixsystems.com/community...on-amazon-a-silent-cool-28-bay-chassis.74313/

 

[Chris Moore]

You might also like to look at the photos here:

https://www.jonkensy.com/832-tb-zfs-on-linux-project-cheap-and-deep-part-1/

 

[pro lamer]

I currently have an Icy dock 2.5" + 3.5" to 5.25" bay in my spare NAS which can only house two 3.5" drives on its own, without direct cooling on the drives so they run around 37-39c.

https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-MB0...+dock+2.5+3.5&qid=1552761015&s=gateway&sr=8-8

For me the link resolves to "ICY DOCK Black Vortex MB074SP-B 4 Bays 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Backplane Cooler Cage with 120mm Front LED Fan in 3X 5.25 Bay (Internal CAGE)". Can you please post link to the 2,5+3,5 one?

Sent from my phone

 

[Stevie_1der]

I've searched for something like that some days ago, because this would come in handy from time to time.
During the last months I had 2 defective notebooks from family and friends on my desk and had to clone the HDDs.

flexiDOCK MB795SP-B (new model)
DuoSwap MB971SP-B
But currently I own none of them, so unfortunately I can't tell about the quality of these.

The one thing I was looking for doesn't exist though: a Slim-SATA to 5.25" bay.
There exist adapters for mounting a Slim-SATA ODD in a 5.25" bay, but you have to screw the slim drive.
I would need one with an eject mechanism like notebooks have, to be able to plug in HDDs mounted in optical bay adapters.

 

[CraigD]

My signature has the 5 3.5" HDD in 3 5.25" bays that I use

I use seven without issue

Have Fun

 

[Redcoat]

Can you please post link to the 2,5+3,5 one?

Bad link description I think.

 

[Ericloewe]

The Icy Docks in my signature work pretty well. They're somewhat loud, but the fan is easily replaced if you can live with less airflow.
You could also conceivably replace the fans with reputable PWM fans and control them.

Cooling with the stock fan is pretty good (while the fan lasts -count on ~3-4 years before it must be replaced) and my disks have always stayed below 40 degrees Celsius, even with ambient temperatures in the low 30s. With Noctua NF-A8 PWM fans, they can't quite handle that scenario and I think they went up to 41 degrees Celsius. 99% of the time the Noctuas are fine, tough.

 

[pro lamer]

The Icy Docks in my signature work pretty well.

The signatures may change so I'm posting their name here:

2 * Icy Dock FatCage MB153SP-B 3-in-2 drive cages

My signature has the 5 3.5" HDD in 3 5.25" bays that I use

I use seven without issue

Same comment as above:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BMJ1WD6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks!

Sent from my phone

 

[Evertb1]

"ICY DOCK Black Vortex MB074SP-B 4 Bays 3.5"

I have two of those in my case (and one on the shelf). I like them very much because of the position of the cooling fans in front. They are looking a bit to much gamy to me but they do the job just fine. I have changed the fans for some Noctua fans and my HDU's stay very cool. I used to have some MB154SP-B 's but my HDU's were running much hotter in those.

 

[Chris Moore]

I have one of these:

I used it in the tower computer that was my FreeNAS before I got the rack-mounted servers I use now.
I think they are a bit on the costly side for what you get because it isn't a hot-swap enclosure.

 

[rvassar]

Interested / following...

I have only used the single 5-1/4 to 3-1/2 hot swap trays, ala "Kingwin" etc..., that you can find on the shelves at Fry's. I have two installed, and room for two more, but only have one actually populated. The other I drop a 8Tb white label drive in to perform pool backups, and perform the odd resilver / drive replacement. The nice thing about the single trays, they almost always use a 4 pin molex, so no 3.3v headaches. The downside, no fans... But I built in a gamer case, so lots of lots of airflow... I would not run a 7200 rpm drive in them long term.

 

[Chris Moore]

Interested / following...

Bang for the buck, if you can live without hot-swap, I have not seen a better deal than these:


https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RSV-3-5-Inch-Cage-RASA-11001/dp/B005FHHOXE/

 

[Evertb1]

I think they are a bit on the costly side for what you get because it isn't a hot-swap enclosure.

As far as I know there are three variants of this bay. One without a backplane - Icy Dock MB074SP-B black vortex (no hotswap there ofcourse). It sells for around 45 euro's in the Netherlands, One with a backplane - Icy Dock MB074SP 1B black Vortex (that is hot swappable). It sells for around 80 euro's in the Netherlands. Last but not least: there should also be an USB variant but I can't find that for sale or on the site of Icy Dock anymore.
Edit: The USB/eSATA variant is still for sale on some places and to find on the site of Icy Dock. Icy Dock Black Vortex MB174U3S-4SB. It sells for around 145 euro's (!) in the Netherlands. It does JBOD.

 

[Ericloewe]

The Icy Docks in my signature work pretty well. They're somewhat loud, but the fan is easily replaced if you can live with less airflow.
You could also conceivably replace the fans with reputable PWM fans and control them.

Cooling with the stock fan is pretty good (while the fan lasts -count on ~3-4 years before it must be replaced) and my disks have always stayed below 40 degrees Celsius, even with ambient temperatures in the low 30s. With Noctua NF-A8 PWM fans, they can't quite handle that scenario and I think they went up to 41 degrees Celsius. 99% of the time the Noctuas are fine, tough.

By the way, I forgot to mention that hot swap works just fine with the Icy Dock FatCage MB153SP.

 

[pro lamer]

Bang for the buck, if you can live without hot-swap, I have not seen a better deal than these:


https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RSV-3-5-Inch-Cage-RASA-11001/dp/B005FHHOXE/

It doesn't fit 5,25 bays, does it? The Amazon description mentions only Rosewill chassis compatibility and the width of the cage...

Do you use them? What chassis?

Sent from my phone

 

[Mr. Slumber]

It doesn't fit 5,25 bays, does it?

They will fit in taking up 3x 5,25 bays. I had them in my Rosewill case and exchanged them for ICY DOCK FatCage MB155SP-B 5 Bay
I also tossed out the built in fan of the FatCage and bought this one instead (low noise, good static pressure) Noctua NF-A9 FLX

 

[pro lamer]

I had them in my Rosewill case and exchanged them for ICY DOCK FatCage MB155SP-B 5 Bay

Was it https://www.rosewill.com/product/ro...ssis-8-internal-bays-4-included-cooling-fans/ ? Did you need to put the icy dock FatCage sideways? The FatCage seems wider than taller while the RSV cage seems taller than wider...

Sent from my phone