Question 1

Does the case come with the six fans or does one have to buy them separately?

Accepted Answer

It does come with 6 fans; 2 exhaust fans at the back end of the chassis and 4 fans directly behind the drive bays to draw fresh air accross the drive bays.

Question 2

What (physical) size power supplies fit into this case?

Accepted Answer

I put a standard 600watt ATX power supply and I7 motherboard from my older workstation in it.

each row of 4 drive trays have a molex connector to plug in(6 for the dirves), my power supply only had 5 so I used a Y connector for the last 2 rows.

Haven't had any issues, in the past couple months since I installed it.  I don't run my 24/7. Normally on during the weekends and most evenings.

Question 3

How do you connect all 24 hard drives to single HBA using  Internal Mini SAS 36-Pin SFF-8087 Male to  Internal Mini SAS 36-Pin SFF-8087 Male cable? I used this cable to connect 4 drives but the card only has 2 ports so there has to be a breakout cable which connects to multiple ports on the backplane. I have IBM ServeRAID M1015 SAS HBA.

Accepted Answer

The short answer is that you need enough ports.  This case does not have an active backplane that works as a "SAS expander" that would let it service everything through one connector.  You really do need to use all six connectors (3 IBM M1015's worth) in order to feed all the drives.

I believe many people use the motherboard SATA connectors to four or eight of the ports via a SFF-8087 reverse breakout cable, and then SAS HBAs for the remainder.  If you are doing something like building a ZFS storage appliance on the cheap that can be a good strategy.

You could also get a stand-alone SAS expander (like NewEgg Item #9SIA2F84293102) and use no additional HBAs.  There are bandwidth and SAS link elements of that you might want to educate yourself about before pulling the trigger on that plan in case you are in one of the performance edge-cases where you do not wish to be constrained.

Question 4

What connectors are required to utilize all 24 drive bays? Are the cables included?

Accepted Answer

The backplane data connectors are standard mini sas connectors. Each backplane has one connector that supports 4 drives. To utilize all 24 drives there would be 6 connectors and cables needed. Cables are not included.

The backplane power connectors are standard non sata power plugs. Cables are not included.

It's pretty straightforward, you can email me if you have further questions.

R Evans at innovasi dot com

Question 5

I have an existing server -- really more like two PC's in the Thermaltake w200 super case... I want to simply put hard drives in this and connect it to my existing server as a storage device. Essentially I want Windows 10 to see it as... Well, a JBOD, but I've never set up one before. Besides purchasing this item , what exactly do I need to accomplish this? I should mention that both of my computers have HBA cards in them. The primary one has two and would be connecting to this, but those connections are internal. How would I connect to an external box? Furthermore, do I really need a motherboard for this if I just want to throw hard drives in it? Thanks in advance.

Accepted Answer

If the HBA's are direct SATA meaning that they are actually SATA ports and not SAS I would not attempt it since SATA over the distance needed would not be recommended also the case expects SAS connections on the backplanes. If you are using something like the LSI/AVAGO SAS 9201-16I then you would need to either get multiple Internal SAS to External SAS Backerplates for each system. Really would become a mess unless you only use one HBA and then add a Port multiplier in the Norco case. The best way to do this is move one of the systems into this case and avoid all the insanity for the external connections.

Question 6

The two USB ports at the front, have they been updated to USB 3.0?

Accepted Answer

The two front ports are only rated at USB 2.0
Don't expect USB 3.0 to work reliably.

Question 7

What Power supply do you recommend for this case if we are going to fill the unit? Also will the 3Ware 9660SE-24M8 work with the cases backplane, was not sure since you stated SAS and that card is SATA?

Accepted Answer

Greetings Jason..... I recently purchased this case for a Remote Server Backup Service. I purchased a Rosewill 650watt modular single lane power supply.... I still have not filled it completely with hard drives, but I have read that sometimes you might need up to 800 watts. I'd suggest you buy a single 12 volt lane power supply no less than 650watt. Do not go cheap on the power supply, remember go for best quality. 
As for the Backplane, i had to buy NORCO C-SFF8087-D SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable. I currently have 6 Western Digital NAS 3 TB SATA Hard Drives. The backplane uses the SFF-8087 connecter, and since my raid card uses the SFF-8087 mini sas connecter it has worked perfectly fine.

Question 8

What is the noise level like of the fans in the chassis?

Accepted Answer

This is my fist server chassis, so I don't have a ton to compare it to.  That said, I would say it's louder than a desktop, but not unreasonable.  I keep mine in the basement and can't hear it over the dehumidifier.  You definitely wouldn't want this in a living/sleeping space, but it doesn't seem to be unbearable.

Question 9

Can the backplanes handle 8Tb hard drives?

Accepted Answer

Yes, I have a few 8TB WD Red Drives in and they are working no problem.

Question 10

Does this come with a spot to mount 2x internal 2.5" SDDs?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does.  Its a little plate that mounts over the motherboard next to the fans.   I have two drives screwed into it and a third ssd laying on top of that.

Questions & Answers