Alternative to an expensive Hard drive enclosure?

[Barney6262]

Hi, I recently bought another 3 hard drives (WD caviar blue 1TB) for a Raid 10 storage solution. It all works great except it is slightly noisy as the hard drive cage in my pc is right next to the front intake so no noise is dampened. This means my hard drives are the noisiest thing in my computer at the moment.

So, is there a way to store the hard drives in a separate case/enclosure which can be stored in a different location in the room, where they can be directly connected to the computer without a massive performance loss? I know there are 4 drive NAS enclosures but they are really expensive for a case. Is there a cheaper alternative?

Thanks

 

[vagrantsoul]

the problem is with a NAS , you're also paying for the cpu and control board that runs the drives.. not just the frames that holds the drive(s). i've seen a few buffalo and synology options... what is your price range?

 

[vagrantsoul]

looking at other solutions.

 

[boosted1g]

For that many drives, no there is not a better option.

I would buy a better case and move parts to that. Fractial Design R4 has sound dedaning and should be much quiter for you.

 

[vagrantsoul]

http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414774712&sr=1-1&keywords=4+bay+nas

http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-LinkStation-Enclosure-Performance-LS421DE/dp/B00CO0DE0W/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414774712&sr=1-4&keywords=4+bay+nas

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-ReadyNAS-Diskless-Attached-RN10400-100NAS/dp/B00BNI4CVG/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414774712&sr=1-2&keywords=4+bay+nas

 

[Barney6262]

the problem is with a NAS , you're also paying for the cpu and control board that runs the drives.. not just the frames that holds the drive(s). i've seen a few buffalo and synology options... what is your price range?

To be honest I would like to spend as little as possible....

 

[ss202sl]

Replace the 4 drives with 1 ssd(it will be faster and quieter), and then use external enclosures for the HDD's and use them for backups.

 

[vagrantsoul]

going to second the case route then... phanteks enthoo pro, Corsair Carbide Series 330R ,
fractal define r4, corsair Obsidian 550D, and some other cases listed here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page5.html

Prevents you having another link in the chain to fail as well keeping in the same chassis.

 

[Barney6262]

Replace the 4 drives with 1 ssd(it will be faster and quieter), and then use external enclosures for the HDD's and use them for backups.

I already have a 250gb SSD running my OS and a few games. I have over 1.5 TB of other data I need to have instant access to. Therefore the HDD's need to be attached to the PC without much of a performance hit.

At the moment I am using a Fractal design ARC XL. I bought it over a year ago when i was pretty uneducated about computers thinking I would use the space for custom water cooling loops in the future. If i was to move to a Define r4 (For example) would i see a significant decrease in Hard drive noise over the ARC XL?

 

[vagrantsoul]

not experienced with the ARC XL, the define does look to be of similar design. I love my h440 from nzxt, not sure if you would get annoyed by the lack of optical drive (usb options available) but it would have enough room to host the 4-5 hdd, and room for the ssd. acoustic foam all over the interior as well (minus the window)

 

[Barney6262]

not experienced with the ARC XL, the define does look to be of similar design. I love my h440 from nzxt, not sure if you would get annoyed by the lack of optical drive (usb options available) but it would have enough room to host the 4-5 hdd, and room for the ssd. acoustic foam all over the interior as well (minus the window)

I am really liking the look of the orange and black H440...
As always cost is an issue, being £90 I would have to try and sell my second hand ARC XL to get a bit of the money back, but I don't know how much I will get back from it.

Would you say the H440 is worth the money? Does the sound proofing actually work and does it restrict airflow alot? Thanks

 

[vagrantsoul]

http://pcpartpicker.com/b/XhkTwP my build inside it...

the stock 3 fans in front and one on back were good, i added the corsair fans more for aesthetics... not experiencing much delta over ambient in the case... ymmv.

the stock fans are actually quite good, not getting what i occasionally in people bitching over the air flow... i even have a non-blower gpu.

Sound proofing has the case near silent and it's about 2feet from my face... airflow is sligthly restricted, but it's also filtered very well.