My NAS is in a node 304 case from fractal design and I can recommend it.
The 304 is mini-ITX/DTX with space for 6 drives.
There is a bigger version for bigger motherboards and more drives, which I would assume is just as good as mine.
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Why not get an older desktop and fill it with drives?
If you go look for a used regular PC case, older model will typically have more 3.5" bays. By older, I mean +15yo.
If you have access to a 3D printer, you have options to make more drive bays on the cheap.
You will have to go for a modern power-supply still, in order to have enough SATA power plugs.
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I have a silverstone DS380. Its pretty good, but limits you to ITX, so finding 8 SATA is kinda hard.
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OP I think using PCPartPicker might show you tons of options for cases with 4+ drive capacity. If you want an older case just search ebay for the options you find.
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I had the same trouble when looking for a NAS case that did not cost a fortune.I ended up buying a Gemini nas case from Ali Express.
Other than waiting a couple of weeks for it to arrive the price was around $140 USD and it is actually a really good case and mine holds 8 drives.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| NAS | Network-Attached Storage |
| PSU | Power Supply Unit |
| SATA | Serial AT Attachment interface for mass storage |
3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 10 acronyms.
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I have an HP Proliant G2 tower server case from the early 2000s. Its got 9 drive bays (if you include the floppy drive bay).
Hilariously, it's ATX compatible, so I stuffed it with an older Asus motherboard (7th gen Intel + i7-7700T, w/NVME slot), 16GB DDR4 RAM, ~650W ATX PSU, and an LSI SAS card. Now I just need to migrate everything over to it from my older Mac Mini that's currently serving as the NAS...
I got the jonsbo n3 and love it. But everyone saying get an old case and save money is right. I just got it cause I like how it looks
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Old workstations perhaps? Hp z440esq things? An example of such a project.
Perhaps even that is overkill though.
I've professionally rolled out 300 qnaps to various sites- they're pretty decent now
jmcd 12S4 or similar chinese cases
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