XigmaNAS

I've decided to invest in a rackmount case after i lost some 3x3TB's with possible heat issues and what not.

My current platform is an ML110 G5, 4GB DDR, 1x4porta Sil SATAII, 800W Antec PSU, 1x2port Sil SATAII, 1.8GHZ DualCore E2160, (Kept thinking it was xeon till today) with 3x3TB WDC RAIDZ, 3x3TB SG RAIDZ, 5x1TB RAIDZ (mix of 1TB,3TB,2TB). Retrofitted the ML110 with fans & 4disk external enclosure

My chasis priorities are based on the foll.:
1) My room temperature can hit 34C+ without cooling. (Peak summer temp's hit 50C outside) - as such keeping my drives cool comes first. (That said whats the suitable operating temp for HDD's?)
2) HDD capacity utpto 30TB on raid. Max of 15-16 disks.
3) Got a 22U cabinet - sadly only 50cm depth - so rack suitable chasis are preferred.

I've shortlisted 2 potential candidates that can be shipped to me
http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php ... o=RPC-4020
Norco 4020 - $ 320 + $190 shipping totaling at $510 (Hotswap, 20x3.5" HDD)

http://www.rosewill.com/products/2312/P ... ations.htm
Rosewill LVS-4500 - $90 + $ 230 shipping $320 (No hotswap, 15x3.5" Internal)

I'm at a loss to decide which one to go for. Considering my above requirements - which cools better might be my answer,

it also depends on the drives. 5400rpm drives are cooler than 7200 rpm drives.
however the effect of temperature to drive health is a topic of controversial discussion.
there is a google study that says it has no effect.

the norco drive case is one of the more used cases.
get the 120mm adapter.
http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=258
and you can adjust the cooling performance by using different fans.
for high performance you could use something like a Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm
or maybe a Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 (not 100% sure if this one fits)

whats the suitable operating temp for HDD's?)

should not exceed 45°C in long term. 35-40°C is the optimum.

From the spec I would decide for the Rosewill, but how they perform can't be judged without using the chassis
Better think of airconditioning for the server cabinet.
There is also water cooling available for HDDs, but for 15-16 disks it gets expensive.

the roswell does not have hotswap.

cooling in the cases should be the same if the 120mm bracket is used.

I'm mostly going for the RPC-4020 considering 4220 is not available for shipment to my location. Hope the SATA backplane of the 4020 instead of the SFF8087 woudnt give me a handful in cable management. I've to cut the rear of my 500mm (19") 22Urack to allow the depth of the norco (25.5").

I do have a few doubts here:
1) Are there no filters on the 4020 for air intake? Is there someway to add them if not default?
2) I plan to use only 14 drives initially - can i lock out the air intake of the empty drive trays in some way?
3) The hotswap backplane of the norco - does it limit the max. storage capacity of the drives - as in will it support future 8TB & 10TB drives if they come up soon?

Spending more on shipping than the case - so dont want to make obviously silly judgement errors

in what country are you?

1) server rooms are normally filtered, so you wont find many servers with filters in them. you could always create your own.
2) there are some. my supermicro case came with them
http://www.txcesssurplus.com/catalog/30 ... 0024-T.jpg
3) hotswap planes do not limit the storage capacity.

Thanks for the hostswap clear up. I'm based in Dubai - UAE. No decent rack mount options without spending a fortune. The only option available is the supermicro with a starting retail of $1,470 for chasis which screams like a jet engine. Feel like its a rip-off for 24 drives.

This is my home\media room - not a server room. So no 24\7 monitored cooling or screamers or air-filtering. Just have a 22U Rack on castors with 50cm depth in my media room. Dont want to spend a fortune on just a chasis. My HD collection craze has limits.

anyone who use's NORCO's RPC units can shed some light to the filters or closing out empty drive bay air intake?

I purchased the Rosewill LVS-4500 for my setup and it's been working great. For $100 its hard to beat.

Have the similar as the first link 30-40°C with these 5 fans blowing away. 16 bays
I learned what a SAS backplane is too

Finally got my Norco 4224 after extended delays and transferred my HP ML110 into the chasis. Btw - HP does make your life miserable if you take out their stuff from their chasis - the screw locations, CPU heatsink mount, front panel pins, must have HP Fan (still struggling on that), rear panels ... everything has to be custom.

That said - my 12 disks are now up and running good in the new box. Planning to now do the foll. upgrades:
1) Add a SATA HBA Card - the all preferred IBM M1015
2) A SAS Expander Card - which I'm not very sure of - 6GBps SAS 4xSFF8087 Expander Card. I dont really need one at the moment but this no brand card looked really affordable at 150$ - (just thought this was better than the Sil SATA cards which I use now) - but dont want to buy risky hardware either. Do advise if this is a sensible choice or recommend another?

On another note - Considering I might hit out 20-24TB in soon (I'm running on 14TB now) - im at risk with RAM limitation - 8GB ECC is the max I can go on this hardware - how badly will I be affected in terms of performance if I do not change my mainboard?