Storage "SFF" hot swap drive bays?

[zovc]

Hey,

I found an "Open Box" version of the A1SRi-2758F on newegg for about $100 off so I pulled the trigger on it. That board is going to act like a desktop for a little while, but it'll eventually become a NAS/server.

I am kicking around the idea of trying to make my own case for the NAS and was wondering if there are any "SFF" hot-swap bays, ones that are perhaps smaller than 5.25" slot-ins. Perhaps there are brackets designed to slide in-and-out of 3.5" (or 2.5", begrudgingly) drive cages? Or something else?

Assuming I'm not using a 'proprietary' hot swap mechanism, do you folks have any ideas for mounting the sata and power cables in a manner that wouldn't get knocked out of place all the time?

 

[cleveland]

Akasa produces a great "SFF" hotswap solution. Check this out:

http://www.akasa.com.tw/search.php?seed=AK-IEN-03

 

[Biowarejak]

I mean, 3D printing is always an option but it gets somewhat flimsy at low thicknesses, though I'm fairly certain they started doing tool-less drive cages that way.

 

[chx]

Akasa produces a great "SFF" hotswap solution. Check this out:

http://www.akasa.com.tw/search.php?seed=AK-IEN-03

Are you sure that's hotswap? https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...cm_re=hot_swap_3.5_2.5-_-17-998-040-_-Product https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817994148 these are. If you were to use 7mm drives, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817994195 this is awesome. There are 2TB 7mm drives, you have six SATA ports, so use you can get 8TB in a RAID-6 config in two 3.5" bays. Or just buy six 4TB Samsung EVO SSDs, it won't even cost you ten grand

 

[Phuncz]

As far as I know, it's not the drive cage that needs to be hot-swappable (although it needs to be SATA 2 or 3) but the controller. Often times you can find this option in the motherboard BIOS or controller's ROM settings.

 

[dstarr3]

I've used Icy Dock hotswap bays before. Good stuff.

MOD: Removed affiliate link.

 

[zovc]

Using 2.5" drives instead of 3.5" drives would definitely be going SFF, but it would also be paying a pretty huge premium, wouldn't it?

And, the more I think about it--having hot-swap capabilities isn't "that" important to me, but having an efficient way to store and organize and install my drives is. Are there any drive cages you folks like or dislike a lot? Why? Even if they come pre-packaged with a case I might be able to borrow or take inspiration from the design.

 

[iFreilicht]

Using 2.5" drives instead of 3.5" drives would definitely be going SFF, but it would also be paying a pretty huge premium, wouldn't it?

In that case, you can buy a 5.25" hot-swap cage and simply remove all the stuff that makes it that large. From my experience, Icy Dock makes very nice units that are already about as small as you can get, so if you remove the outer shell and screw that to your case directly, that'd be the best solution.

 

[zovc]

You might be on to something!

 

[Biowarejak]

Remove all the things!

 

[VisualStim]

wow this one has 8 fucking bays for 2.5" drives

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817994178

 

[BirdofPrey]

The issue with making hot swap drive bays is in where they fit and how they fit.
Computers don't tend to come with more than one external 3.5" bay since about the only thing you'd put in it these days is a card reader, and the size difference between 3.5" and 5.25" means a lot of space is wasted, so for 3.5" drives you might as well skip the hot swap.
2.5" on the other hand, you can easily cram a bunch into each 5.25" bay, so is a good solution.

Cabling is still going to be a nightmare. Unfortunately, most consumer hot swap bays have a bevy of SATA connections rather than combining them all into mini-SAS connectors that you can break out to SATA at the motherboard or run straight to a RAID card,