# Looking for FreeBSD compatible short 19" NAS



## The_Educated_Fool (Jul 8, 2022)

Hello,

maybe someone has a good hint for me for the hardware, I'm looking for.
Currently I'm running a DIY NAS, based on FreeBSD, in a desktop case. I've moved recently I now have a 19" server rack in my basement - unfortunately it is not very deep, only 45 cm.
I now like to move my NAS into the 19" server rack and looking for suitable hardware. I would have up to 3 rack units available, my issue is the small depth. 
My NAS should have space for 6 3.5" HDD disks front accessible (that's the amount I have in my desktop NAS). Since its only for my small household but should run 24/7, my focus is more on energy saving than on having much CPU power. 

I've looked around quite some time for a 19" server that suites my requirements but what I found is either to deep or doesn't have 6 disks front accessible. 
The only suitable hardware I found are the NAS systems from Qnap or Synology, but they come with their own OS - and I really would like to have the possibility to install my own FreeBSD (or at least something like XigmaNAS).

Any hints / tips for me? Or experience with installing FreeBSD successfully on one of the short Qnap/Synology 19" NAS hardware?

Thanks and kind regards,
Fool


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## SirDice (Jul 8, 2022)

I've bought a couple of different Chenbro 19" cases, they're not that deep but they're around 50 cm. They've got cases in all shapes and sizes though. The ones I have will fit a standard ITX mainboard and ATX power supply. So you can build your own system using standard off-the-shelf parts. My "storage" server has 2 x 3 5.25 external bays, you can fit a 4 drive hot swap cage in there. There are also 5 drive hotswap cages that fit in a 3 5.25 bay. That will get you a total of 10 disks.


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

Friday rack porn from the master.
I have a similar chassis as the bottom left case.

I took a 4.5" grinder and split a case in half for my Superrouter project (front to back). Inserted a piece of Aluminum for new faceplate. Then discovered hotswap power chassis needs an extra 1/2" so I had to notch it.
Power supply vents now stick right flush.
I am glad I saved my old rack chassis. I had a vision and had to build it.


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## SirDice (Jul 8, 2022)

SilverStone has some nice cases too: https://silverstonetek.com/en/produ...=1&filter=Server_Chassis,ATX_PS2&sort=Newsest


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

Check out used Datto storage hardware. They use quality OEM gear.


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

One thing to ask yourself. Do you really need hotswap bays.
That add greatly to price and how many times have you had to 'reseat' disk drives in sleds.
Backplane to drive is the weak link.
They make some nice 5 drives-in- three 5.25 bays with fan.


			CSE-M35T-1B |  Mobile Rack  |  Accessories  | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.
		

Pair of those on each side gets you there.


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

I used these on my superrouter:


			MCP-220-83608-0N |  Drive Kits  |  Accessories  | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.
		

gmirror pair of 16GB SSD mounted on back/now the front.
Supermicro makes some nice gear.


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

Shallow storage case is going to be hard to find.

What motherboard? MATX, ATX or EATX?


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## SirDice (Jul 8, 2022)

Phishfry said:


> One thing to ask yourself. Do you really need hotswap bays.
> That add greatly to price and how many times have you had to 'reseat' disk drives in sleds.


Need? No, not really needed. I don't have to unrack my server(s) to replace a broken disk, makes it a lot easier. I've replaced quite a few of them over the years. For a home lab, they don't really need to be expensive. 
SilverStone FS305 for example.


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## msplsh (Jul 8, 2022)

I crafted my own solution with a Silverstone case but it had to have 20" of depth and I'm not sure how it would get any smaller considering 3.5" drive depth and Micro-ATX sizes.  If you have less than 18 inches of depth to work with, that's just not enough for anything other than network equipment (wires, even if only power, out the back need depth) and I think you'll need a new one.  I sidestepped this with a sideways rack and some depth extenders.  You could also see if you could gain depth via a vertical one.  Just make sure it holds a lot of weight.

If you can not change the rack, and it's got to be rackmount, I think the only solution to this is to fab your own setup where the disks live in 2U via some backless chassis and the board lives in the third, but with no "lid" on a 1U case.  Ugly, but cheap.

Aside from that, throw out the rack and just stuff things in an ATX case.


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

msplsh said:


> Aside from that, throw out the rack and just stuff things in an ATX case.


How about the old monster media center case stashed in the closet.
Plenty of height and looks good too. Add some 3.5 bays inside and get some quality fans.
Not that gameboy led bullshit, industrial quality of the right size. Sunon or Delta are good.

Stay away from Norco & clones chassis. Trays and the fits are not good.
I did build a shallow iStarUSA 2U with 2 x2.5" hotswap bays and rest fixed drives. Only 4 drives fit. MATX.

So ITX is all you need if using SATA. Infact I have SBC with 6 SATA I been meaning to build out..


			COMMELL LS-576 5.25" SBC Support 3nd generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 Mobile Processor
		

Mini Virt Rig was plan.


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## Phishfry (Jul 8, 2022)

Thinking about cheapest fixed drive rack option.
Here is the case I used but 4 drives was tight with 2 bay SSD cage. Had to do some modding:





						Industrial Chassis | iStarUSA Products | d-213-matx - 2U Compact Rackmount microATX Rackmount Chassis ATX Power Supply Compatible
					






					www.istarusa.com
				




This guy used the same chassis but with ITX:





						Home server rebuild - x10sdvt, d-213-matx
					

Hard to believe it's been nearly two years since my last major home server rebuild, but here's the writeup for that: Home Server Rebuild: S-35-DE5SL, E3-1230v3, E3C224D4I.  That server has worked great.  My only real complaint was the 16 GB RAM limitation (though I didn't actually need more).  I...




					forums.servethehome.com
				




Maybe find a quality FlexATX power supply(smaller than ATX) and add some more cages where PCI cards would go.








						4 Bay 3.5 inch and 2.5 Inch Hard Drive HDD Rack Holder Chia Cage Case 4x2.5,3.5  | eBay
					

Condition is "New". THIS WILL ALSO FIT 2.5 HDDs But There is going to be larger distance between HDDS. I use this on my chia farm and organize it better. There will be 4 screws for each hdd 16 total.



					www.ebay.com
				




A Thin-ITX board with 6 SATA would be ideal for cable clearance. Use some 90 degree SATA cables.


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## msplsh (Jul 9, 2022)

Looking at the interior pictures, stuffing six drives in there is going to be a heating problem.

N82E16811165213


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## Phishfry (Jul 9, 2022)

For the money it is a hackable chassis I have found useful..
Mine was not intended for NAS it houses my Gigabyte MX31.
For the money its solid case.
The FP buttons and leds are in a bad spot for the drive below the 5.25" drive cutout.

No ThinITX boards with ECC that I can find.


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## SirDice (Jul 11, 2022)

Inter-Tech has a couple of nice 19" cases that will fit a standard ATX, microATX or mini-ITX board. And they're not that deep. 






						4U 40240 - Inter-Tech GmbH
					

Inter-Tech Elektronik Handels GmbH - Gehäuse, Netzteile und vieles mehr aus der Hardwarewelt




					www.inter-tech.de
				








						3U 30240 - Inter-Tech GmbH
					

Inter-Tech Elektronik Handels GmbH - Gehäuse, Netzteile und vieles mehr aus der Hardwarewelt




					www.inter-tech.de


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## msplsh (Jul 11, 2022)

19" case in 19" rack is not fun.  For example: Silverstone rails won't fit, they need 20" and the case isn't designed to mount by its ears.


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## sko (Jul 11, 2022)

Phishfry said:


> One thing to ask yourself. Do you really need hotswap bays.



A case with a proper hot-swap backplane has various benefits:
- MUCH saner cabling via SFF cables instead of error-prone SATA-cables and no need for molex/sata power adapters. (molex to sata, loose all your data...).
- proper cooling for all drives!
- easy to swap drives for upgrades or replacement. especially with cheaper "general purpose" 19" cases you often have to pull them completely out of the rack to get access as there are no rails available or the screws for the top lid are on the sides.


I've seen several short-depth cases/systems from SuperMicro with 2.5" backplanes. So if 3.5" isn't a hard requirement there might be some interesting options available...

As for the actual system I'd go for something like an Atom C3xxx (NOT the C2xxx!), which are very energy-efficient and are even available with onboard LSI SAS-controllers (although a dedicated SAS3008 PCIe HBA is often less expensive) and multiple Gigabit-NICs. The previous-generation Xeon D-15xx are also available at a moderate pricetag and even come with 2x10Gbit from the chipset.


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## The_Educated_Fool (Jul 11, 2022)

Hello,
thank you very much for all your responses - I'm really overwhelmed! 

Actually I was hoping for finding a "ready to use" NAS/server without the need that I screw something together by myself. (Quite some years ago I did this...)
But in my situation that's maybe the only solution.
Since it was mentioned in this thread: Unfortunately I do not have more space available for a bigger rack. And sure, having the disks hot-swap bays is maybe not really necessary, but a nice-to-have feature - and if possible I do not want to forgo that.

I read about a good idea here: Having a small 1 rack unit server and then on additional 2 rack units the disks. That seems to be maybe the best solution regarding the depth (and also maybe the heat)?
I assume the bays mentioned by Phishfry (https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/accessories/mobilerack/CSE-M35T-1B.php) should work out for holding my disks?
Since I'm not really into the hardware details here: What's the best / state-of-the-art way to connect the 1 unit server with the disk bays? 
What do I have to pay attention to - especially of course to stay FreeBSD compatible?

Thanks & kind regards,
Fool


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## SirDice (Jul 13, 2022)

The_Educated_Fool said:


> What's the best / state-of-the-art way to connect the 1 unit server with the disk bays?


SFF-8644 or SFF-8088 probably. It's the 'external' variant of the internal SFF-8643/SFF-8087 cables. Those are commonly used on controllers like the LSI SAS controllers.


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## msplsh (Jul 13, 2022)

I have an external SFF-8088 enclosure that I use with FreeBSD.  You will have new problems with a 1U server: power supplies, cpu cooling height and PCI risers.

Your supermicro link will not work in 2U.  That device is for loading 5x3.5" disks in 3x5.25" bays.  1U is 1.75 inches so 2U is 3.5 high, leaving zero slack for an enclosure, let alone one that has to be mounted in a case.

You'd find vertically mounted 3.5 disk systems in 3U enclosures, which, actually might work for you, as I see some that are shorter depth with 3x5.25 bays, since it's almost "normal" computer case size.  You'd need to mount the sixth disk somewhere else.  I'm not immediately seeing 3U chassis with more than those 3 external 5.25 bays.


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## Phishfry (Jul 15, 2022)

msplsh said:


> Your supermicro link will not work in 2U. That device is for loading 5x3.5" disks in 3x5.25" bays.


I wanted to mention I just threw a random link up for that Supermicro CSE-35 disk cage.
There are different backplanes on them and you must look at features desired and buy the one you want.
There is cheaper version with no SES2 and there is a version with a 4 pin connector for Supermicro boards and SES2.


			CSE-M35TQB |  Mobile Rack  |  Accessories  | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.
		


I was just spitballing ideas. I have used those cages and they are worthy hardware.


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## Phishfry (Jul 15, 2022)

Many years ago I had a dream.
I scraped the SCSI drives out of old StorCase DataSilo The thing weighed alot. Power supply was excellent.
It has 5.25" bays. I used 3 bays for SM CSE-35T cage and one 5.25" bay for a 6 drive Thermaltake 2.5" SATA cage.
I used an Astec SAS Expander Card and SFF8088/8087 cabling to a couple of sas92xx-8e cards in host.
The Thermaltake drive cage was the worst. Plastic latch broke on one sled. Bad fit and finish.
Waste of my money. Expander was dog slow and disappointing. My first rub with slow ZFS speeds.
Was my first NAS4Free build beyond 4 drives.
You want it? It should be in a dumpster not a tub.
DIY was fun but costly.


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## Phishfry (Jul 15, 2022)

I looked at p-link usa cases when building my router.. They are not the super heavy duty like you might find elsewhere but they are cheap.


			3U (3x5.25"+ 5x3.5" HDD Bay) (14.96" Deep) (ATX / Micro-ATX / Mini ITX)  Rackmount Chassis IPC-3035S (PLinkUSA.com / RackBuy.com)


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## Phishfry (Jul 15, 2022)

This seller OEMXS out of Boston sells all kinds of New Intel parts that are EOL. Many still  valuable.


			https://www.amazon.com/INTEL-FUP8X35HSDK-Drive-Enclosure-Total/dp/B00DB472MG
		

Intel makes several nice disk cages.


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## casepro (Aug 26, 2022)

The_Educated_Fool said:


> Hello,
> 
> maybe someone has a good hint for me for the hardware, I'm looking for.
> Currently I'm running a DIY NAS, based on FreeBSD, in a desktop case. I've moved recently I now have a 19" server rack in my basement - unfortunately it is not very deep, only 45 cm.
> ...


CASEPRO 240L is a good choice:


			https://www.casepro.cn/a/KI-N240L.html


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