Re: [CentOS] eSATA drive enclosure of a full PC?

Stephen Harris wrote:

...

1. Get a good size case, mobo, processor, etc and put 8 hard drives it in and RAID them. (yes an 8 port SATA mobo). Running CentOS.

or

2. Get an eSATA enclosure that has room for 8 or 10 drives and just connect it to box?

My recommendation is the 2nd option. I ran the first for a couple of years and was always suffering disk failures because you really really need good air-flow to keep that many disks cool.

If you're going to raid together than many disks, you've got to keep them cool, which a standard case (no matter now many drive slots it has) generally doesn't do very well. My recommendation would be to get a Supermicro case or something similar that is designed for raid.