Lots of hard drive space!

Craig321 · 11 Dec 2010 at 11:41

Hi,

Currently I have 3 drives in my case, but would like to put a further 2 in, and maybe more in the future.

I've been looking at both the Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced and the HAF 912 as they both have 7 3.5" slots, and a few 5.25"s that can be converted if necessary.

Are there any other cases out there that have so many 3.5" slots? What are my options?

Thanks.

sunjoo2012 · 11 Dec 2010 at 11:49

fractal design r3 holds 8

Reldar · 11 Dec 2010 at 12:09

Fractal Design R3:
- 8 x 3.5" bays
- 2 x 5.25" bays

Fractal Design XL:
- 10 x 3.5"
- 4 x 5.25"

Craig321 · 11 Dec 2010 at 17:58

Hmmm looking good! The XL is a bit big in terms of height and depth, it would be a bit out of place under my desk I think, however the R3 is almost exactly the same dimensions as my Lian Li PC-7.

I'll have a look at some more pictures and reviews of the R3, looks like a very nice case! Only thing I'd miss out on is the SATA dock that the CM690 has on top. Saying that though, you can buy nice USB ones cheap these days which would mean I don't have to use that additional SATA slot internally.

Thanks

Craig

powelly · 11 Dec 2010 at 21:01

theres the Armoursuit but that's like £300

Craig321 · 12 Dec 2010 at 00:48

The Fractal Design R3 is about the price limit I'm looking at at the moment (£80).

Seems like the perfect case for me

sunjoo2012 · 12 Dec 2010 at 09:53

good choice you can always turn the top 5.25 bays into hd bays with a converter if you need more hd space

Craig321 · 12 Dec 2010 at 11:26

sunjoo2012 said:
good choice you can always turn the top 5.25 bays into hd bays with a converter if you need more hd space

Yep, it comes with one converter as well

I'll only be using 3 to start with as I've decided to get an enclosure for one of my other drives as it'll be used for backups, but I'll definitely be needing more fairly soon. 8 slots should be adequate for now

manbearpig · 12 Dec 2010 at 11:29

Antec 1200 has 12 spaces, and you can put 3 or 4 more in the CD drive bays as well.

setter · 12 Dec 2010 at 12:53

What sort of budget have you in mind? Im using a Lian Li A70F, 11 3.5 bays, 7 at the front and 3 at the top rear, the 5 x 5.25 bays could also be used, giving room for 16 drives in total.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-171-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187

Craig321 · 13 Dec 2010 at 18:20

Budget is a max of £100 and mid-tower.

Thanks for the suggestion though, tis a nice case

Mr. Brightside · 15 Dec 2010 at 15:04

From my post in the R3 thread:

In need of more hard disk space (I previously had an Antec 300 and had maxed out the capacity), I picked up an R3 last Thursday from OcUK. I'm very pleased with it - build quality is great and it's so much quiter than the Antec 300. I'd recommend it.

Bonus points: looks better than the 300, cable management is better, and the CPU cut out would have been handy when I first fitted the H50.

Craig321 · 15 Dec 2010 at 19:22

Very nice. You have a lot of drives, what setup are you running there, or is it just a ton of storage?!

Still trying to sort out building a second PC out of my spare E6600 and 4GB RAM I have, I was planning on using my current PC-7 for that and buying the Fractal as my new case, but I haven't been able to source a decent motherboard yet.

Might just go for it anyway and put the PC-7 to one side for now. Such a nice case, and will allow me to make use of spare my 500GB drives at last!

Mr. Brightside · 15 Dec 2010 at 20:01

mdadm raid5 array for speed, capacity and redundancy. Essentially a ton of storage though.