NORCO RPC-4020 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 20 Hot-swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays - OEM

Pros: cheap

Cons: Customer support was initially very helpful when they thought the issue was limited to a smoking backplane. As it turns out the smoke was really from the voltage regulators on the hard drives literally catching on fire.

Looking at the suspect backplane it's very easy to see that the polarity of one of the polarized capacitors was soldered on backwards. Norco requested that I mail them in and they would have their tech department check to see if that would cause and issue. Surprise surprise they responded with "Our tech department think it can't damage hard drives."

Although I have the pictures showing the polarity as being reversed I no longer have a way to measure the voltage output of the sata connectors, although I'm certain at least one of the 3 power connections (3.3V, 5V, 12V) was much higher than it was supposed to be.

The purpose of the capacitor is to keep the voltage at those pins constant and if it exceeds what it is designed to be then it will store more charge. Being that the polarity was reversed it would never absorb the excess charge and it if became charged would simply dump the charge that it had on top of the excess charge resulting in a much higher voltage than the voltage regulator is designed to handle.

I am now working with western digital (who have been great through this whole process) and am trying to get the data sheet for the individual part that melted on all 4 hard drives. From there I may have to go to small claims court bearing expert testimony on the case as an Electrical Engineer myself.

Other Thoughts: If you do buy this trying to save yourself some money, do yourself a favor and remove all the backplanes and check for missing components of pieces that are installed incorrectly.

I was warned by many people of their horrible customer service and took a chance on it and it backfired horribly on me.

Pros: Quality of the cases seems pretty good, no overly sharp edges and everything went together without much of a hassle.

Cons: There are two Cons that I can think of. The first was relatively minor, but the spacing between the backplanes and the fan wall make the connections really difficult. Luckily the whole wall can be removed and then replaced.

Secondly, on startup one of the backplane went bad. Not your normal IC going bad with a small puff of smoke, but billowing melting plastic grayish smoke.

Other Thoughts: I had heard issues with people's backplanes making it past quality control with missing components before, and without tearing mine apart yet I'd be wiling to guess that's what's happened to mine....maybe a missing voltage regulator, or something soldered incorrectly.

I have been in contact with their customer support email, so we'll see if their customer service can be of any help.

Pros: this is a solid case and good for the price tag, very basic hot swap bays but get the job done.

Cons: first one I got one of the lid clips was broken, sent it back to newegg and they were awesome as always about getting my issue resolved. second one lid is a slight pain to get back on because of the fact the chassis is aluminum so wants to twist. one of the back planes one of the sata headers is broken and needs to be replaced.

Other Thoughts: I don't know if norco is just a small company but their website is terrible and had to get support to get issues with chassis resolved. Would buy another one of there protects from newegg again but maybe do a little more research next time

Pros: - Many bays
- ...

Cons: - Poor documentation
- Flimsy design / poor build quality
- Not enough spacing between fans and backplanes, makes wiring a nightmare
- Blue HD activity LED impossible to view unless looking head-on and even then hard to discern drive activity
- Extremely noisey
- Terrible customer service

Other Thoughts: Countless hours were wasted in determine the exact root cause of drive write errors I have been experience after putting together a new server build with this case bought on Oct,2011.

In short, the backplane was defective. When I pulled out the backplane to take a look, I notice that the backplane looked "used" in many respects (scratches, discoloring, etc...). It just didn't look like a new circuit board. That in itself was not the major problem, unfortunately customer service did nothing to help alleviate my frustration and only added to it.

In short customer service was apathetic and I was told that I would be responsible for buying the replacement backplane and shipping back the defective unit, shipping of which would not be reimbursed.

In all this unit turned out to be a major hassle and a colossal waste of my time. I urge anyone thinking of buying a Norco to spend the extra money and get a SuperMicro case. You get better quality but most important, better customer serv

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues you are experiencing with this case. Please contact us at 626-965-7470 or service@norcotek.com, so we may get more details and assist you in resolving this issue.

Best Regards,
Norco Support Team

Pros: It works and does the job it is supposed to do with a few minor tweaks. 2x 2.5 drives on top, mirrored for O/S. 20 drives for data.

A few minor adjustments (noted in cons) and everything is what I wanted; excellent value, 20+2 drives, normal power supply!

The fact that it HAS noisy fans is GOOD, I didn't have to buy vantec tornadoes and replace them. They move big air required to keep the drives cool and keep them from failing. Quiet fans that can't move air past resistance might be put to task if you beat on your drives a lot. I have had drives in the lower corners slow up or drop as a result of bad air flow.

If you don't need real multi-processor servers with redundant power. This is a great value.

Cons: Minor design issue: the two high vol fans are on the back and rather than pull air from the front to the back, they suck hot air back in through the rear vent holes of the chassis.

The 4 small fans behind the drives can't pull enough air for heavy drive usage. This coupled with the hot air recirculation issue created problems.

Easy fix. I installed a thermaltake slot fan by raid controller and taped up holes in the rear not powered by fans. The system now has good airflow from front to rear and I'm no longer overheating drives.

[alternately, I could just put 4 high vol fans on the drive tray and probably not even need the rear two]

Minor mnfr issue; The second unit I picked up did not have screw holes aligned well with the 2.5" drives. Factory holes were mounting them across vs straight and would have caused cable conflicts. No real worries, I made it work without mods. They are just slightly off-angle and not attached with 4 screws.

Other Thoughts: There are two 2.5" drive mounting plates on top of the array. They are not hot-swappable bays. (For the gent that said there was no 2.5" drive areas.)

I now have two of these, none were missing parts.

The case is not Supermicro. I have several of those too but I needed a "plain but functional" multi-drive system without the industrial grade price and associated cost of powering redundant PSUs, multiple multi-core procs, full server mobo, 8 sticks of ram, etc... just to store some large data sets. (1200w to 650w)

The 24 drive chassis would have required 2 bays for O/S mirrors, as it lacks the mounting area. I did not want to mix O/S and data on the same array controllers.

Pros: Lots of drive bays. Latest version has rolled edges. Backplanes are now parallel to the airflow. Hot swappable fans. Hand rails now fit within a standard rack. Fans are quieter than V1 4020.

Cons: No SAS connectors on the backplane. Can't see the blue activity lights for the drives. Rails for V1 4020 won't fit correctly for the current version. No instructions. Motherboard mounting is shorter than V1.

Other Thoughts: It came with one fan that has bad bearings. HUGE noise maker.

Rolled edges are great since you won't cut your hands when you try to work inside the case.

I had a V1 case backplane go bad. Norcotek stated there are no replacements and they weren't sure when they would get any. They'd give me a $20 discount and free shipping if I'd purchase a new one, so I gave it a try.

The rail holes are different so I had to adjust the rails in the rack. We all know how much fun that is. Then I found out the rails won't fit correctly with the new version of the 4020, so it won't fit flush. I consider the rails that I bought for V1 are not compatible with this version of the 4020.

The hot swappable fans made it easy to remove so I could get the backplanes connected.

It's ok for the money. But I think next time I'll look at other cases.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues you are experiencing with this case. Please contact us at 626-965-7470 or service@norcotek.com, so we may get more details and assist you in resolving this issue.

Best Regards,
Norco Support Team

Pros: Lots of bays, 6 fans included, fans move a lot of air, hot swapping mechanisms are well built (not hardy but the mechanism for engaging and disengaging the drives is efficient), lots of room for motherboard and PSU. LED indicators per drive (a green LED to indicate power to drive and blue for activity), solid handles, air flow vents per bay which can be closed when not in use.

Cons: Loud fans, no instructions included, missing screws, also claims to having mounting hardware for 2.5" drives but there wasn't any. Not much room between divider for fans and backplanes. Blue HD activity LED hard to view unless looking head-on.

Other Thoughts: Backplane uses individual SATA connectors per bay (no SAS connectors or port multiplier). I couldn't find any information on the web regarding the backplanes design. Also each backplane only requires one of the molex power connectors be attached as the other is for redundant power supplies. Also it would be suggested to place the fans on the other side of the divider to give more room to access the SATA ports/cables.

Pros: Nicely built, good airflow, 20 bays, well done.

Cons: none really, fans were a bit noisy but it's a server, i swapped them out for some quieter ones.

Other Thoughts: "Smooth border prevent lacerating your skin"

now this may seem stupid but as someone who has needed several stitches from other cheaper cases, it's a great bonus.

Pros: When first owned was working perfectly. This thing was a very affordable answer to my prayers.

Cons: The case is jammed closed I cant even get inside it. I am losing drives on a daily basis due to vibration.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues you are experiencing with this case. Please contact us at 626-965-7470 or service@norcotek.com, so we may get more details and assist you in resolving this issue.

Best Regards,
Norco Support Team

Pros: Very cheap for a 20-bay 4U case. Purchased this back in 2009, still rock solid. Does the job it has to do well.

Cons: Has been superseded by newer models from Norco that beat this in every way. (Airflow improvements, sturdier frame, etc). At the time however, it was very well-done. Complaint still in effect though: sharp steel edges, watch your fingers.

Other Thoughts: RL-26 Rail kit will help in mounting this.