so not sure if this is where to post this or not ( long time viewer first time poster) but currently looking to set up my own Jellyfin like server for me and few family members. trying to hunt down a few parts but not sure what to do. right now trying to figure out a a solid case for this setup. im currently leaning towards a Fractal define 7 XL but not sure. i plan to run at least 5 mechanical drives or so for a Raid 5 setup. but open to other ideas
the plans for other hardware is more desktop components
Hunt around for older PC cases, from before the glass-panel hype
Full metal cases are better for things like EMI suppression and noise reduction, but the lack of glass also makes them cheaper, lighter and less fragile. And it allows for better airflow, quite a thing for server use
Fractal Define R5, Node 304 and Node 804, or the Jonsbo NAS cases are the other ones that come immediately to mind. 45drives HL-series, too, but costs (quite a fair bit) more.
Past that, everything I’d recommend involves hunting for old(er) cases on ebay and abusing mobile rack enclosures (icydock and the like) to add the drive cages you want.
The other consideration is power usage. You mentioned a drive count, but not storage space requirements. Every spindle you keep spinning is going to nibble away at the pocketbook over time, over top of the cost of the drive. How much that matters to you depends on your power costs, amongst other things, of course.
I have a Define 7 XL. It is a great case, very well made. I think probably the best tower case for HomeLab use given the size - allowing plenty of HDDs and any add-in cards. I bought it when it came out, and have had no complaints. I live in an apartment and therefore do not have a basement/attic/closet where I can have a homelab rack. Given this, the physical appearance of the case and the noise reduction are important factors for my needs. The noise insulation is great. I replaced the fans with Noctuas which are very quiet. My one complaint is the HDD mounting. It is a bit annoying to add new drives/swap out. I would much rather a case with a backplane of some type. It is also quite expensive. I believe it supports 18 HDDs, but only comes with 6 trays in the box. $230 for a 6 HDD capacity is quite a lot compared to the Rosewill offerings.
Currently, the server sits in the corner of our home office. If I had a basement/attick where noise and appearance were less important, I’d rather have an inexpensive 4U case with a backplane. (I’m not sure if the Rosewill cases actually have backplanes?) I would probably not actually rack mount it, rather just place on some DIY wooden shelving in the basement.
I am not taxing my system very much, so it should be no surprise that my system stays plenty cool. My system has 6 HDDs, a SAS add-in card, i5-8400 and no GPU. I have 3x 140mm noctua intake fans on the front, a Noctua CPU cooler with 2 120mm fans, and a 120mm exhaust fan. I think the cooling is overkill but I had extra fans from another system which I decommissioned, so why not. It is not a high airflow case. The door on the front is nice in that you can open it if you prefer more airflow and less noise insulation.
How’s it’s sturdiness? I recently picked up a Fractal North XL and was disappointed with how flimsy it felt, I wasn’t sure if its only new Fractal cases that are made like this or all of them.
I am perfectly happy with my fractal define r5 have easily fits 10 3.5 drives and 4 2.5. 8 in the 3.5 drive bays 2 in the 5.25 and then 2 2.5 inch drives in the holders with the other double sided taped to them. only complaint is it could use some more room for cable management on the back. The server is totally incogneto in the define r5. Only comment would be dont try to put a 14900k an 4090 in there unless you wanna cook your hardware.
You almost certainly shouldn’t use RAID 5 on modern large disk, due to the probability of encountering issues during a rebuild, and you probably shouldn’t use a hardware RAID controller either. So when you say you plan a “RAID 5 setup”, do you mean something like ZFS RAIDz1 or some other, similar, software based RAID?
As for case… the one thing I’d say for a home user looking to house several HDDs, is to make sure the case you’re looking at has good, minimally obstructed airflow to the HDDs if you want the system to be quiet enough to not be an issue. Rackmount cases are a great option and some of the budget cases can take a lot more disks than anything else at the same price point, in the consumer space but it comes at the cost of more restrictive cooling. Which means faster spinning, louder fans.
In general, not much reason for Define over Meshify. Same tooling, different front. At lower powers it’s possible the Defines’ closed front might run a little quieter from greater drive noise attenuation. But I’ve never encountered comparative measurements and airflow cases will show some noise reduction at 142 W PPT.
Given current PSUs’ +5 amperages there’s limited value in the XLs’ extra bays over the non-XLs.
North non-XL’s also flexy. So far as I know Meshify-Define and Torrent are ok, haven’t seen complaints about Terra, Era 2, Mood, or Ridge. Focus G is more solid than North, not sure about Focus 2.
North XL only manages two 3.5s, too.
Other main current gens for 5+ bays are Silent Base 802, CS382, and G500A. I don’t find any of them compelling over a Meshify 2.
My suggestion is to go with jonsbo for the nas case, they feel very high quality and have hdd activity lights for each bay on most of their nas focused models.
The Define 7 XL feels very study and generally very well made. The side panels come off easily and re-attach with a solid click. The build quality is fantastic.
Not sure if Fractal considers this to be a comparable product to the North or if one is considered higher tier than the other.
I believe your point is that higher airflow cases are quieter because the fans can spin comparatively slower?
If so, I think this is reasonable but it disregards the noises, albeit minor, made from HDDs. For a NAS use-case with several HDDs, I would rather have a case with lots of sound isolation at the compromise of slightly higher fan speeds.
