I could really use some help to know what parts I need to order so I can have this computer built asap. A few Youtube videos said I need a HBA card or RAID cards and I also need to know what kind of cables I need for the Seagate EXOS 3.5" sata drives. I own about 120 terabytes of music/videos stored amoung 19 drives. My current rig holds 8 drives and i have 11 external drives connected to it. The new case holds (20) 3.5" drive and a few SSDs. My goal is to populate the new build with the same 8 drives from my current rig and add 12 empty 18TB 3.5" drives plus connect the 11 externals to it so that I can see everything in one place so I can reorganize it all so I can in the future load my newly structured collection of music/video folders to my Synology NAS next year so this new rig I’m building will not be setup in a RAID setup. Here’s a link to my PCPARTSPICKER list of what I currrently have. It’s all new/unopened so I can return it or exchange it if need be. I will run Windows 10 on the new rig. Do I need more or better cooling? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/t9m389
How are you going to fit 20 drives in that case?
Fractal says the Define 7XL will hold (18) 3.5" drives but it actually holds 20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAy9N1vX76o&ab\_channel=LinusTechTips
I would get a proper server case with a backplane. It’ll save so many headaches with cable management, and they distribute power a lot more safely than running many long cables would.
My system has been a lot more stable since I started using a hot swap backplane and server PSU. Before that I would lose a drive every 3-6 months. It’s also a lot quieter and the drives run cooler.