Fractal Design, definitely. The model I’m using is no longer made but they have very good ones today too. Look into the Define and Meshify lines. They have models that can utilize the full height of the case for HDD/SSD slots with openings on both sides for maximum ease of cable routing.

The Define 7 or Meshify 2 is most likely what you want. They only come with 6 HDD brackets included but you can buy more and they have slots for up to 11.

The R5 is another good choice, I like those brackets more, but it’s not so flexible as the others I mentioned, and the 5.25" bays will most likely go unused and just take up space.

Don’t get the Node 804, it’s much larger than it seems (check out yt videos) and is cramped and hard to work in.

Fractal Design Define 7 XL

You can fit 18 HDDs into it plus 5 SSDs at the same time without custom mount points.

Though you do need to buy the extra brackets and trays.

Not my build exactly but a example.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/97612-fractal-design-define-7-build/

Fractal seems far superior at least in the budget range. Personally just bought a R5 second-hand for roughly 40euros. Totally worth it imo 😁

Highly recommend cases by Fractal.

For self hosting I’d recommend either one of the Meshify 2 or Define 7, depending on local price and your specific needs. I personally went with the Meshify 2 XL and was blown away by the quality of the case. It’s built well and allows for a variety of configurations. It also makes maintenance very easy as the filters and side panels can all be removed without any tool to handle dust build up.

I used a Fractal Design case for a home server in the past. Pretty happy with them.

I’m using a Fractal Meshify 2. It’s big, but I highly recommend it. It can hold 11 HDDs. I’ve only got 6 in mine, and it’s quite roomy.

I really like the Node 804 even though the design is quite old - probably close to ten years old now. Fractal Design are still manufacturing it, which is rare for case designs that old.

I recently built a NAS using an 804. I had to fit mine into my server closet which isn’t deep enough to fit a regular PC case, so the 804 fit my use case well.

I’ve only got three drives in it (2 x 20TB Seagate Exos X20 for data and 1 x 14TB WD Purple Pro for security cameras) but I wanted the ability to expand in the future, and I wanted to use a Micro ATX motherboard rather than a smaller one.

A Noctua NH-D15 fits fine, even though the spec sheet says it won’t fit.

So I recently went through all of this headache. I started really wanting hotswap that didn’t look like it was from the 90’s. I also needed like 8 drives capacity which rules a lot of the popular cases out.

I thought about it for a while and I don’t really touch the drives at all on any of my previous Nas builds so that meant I didn’t need hotswap.

Eventually I decided that rather than try to hide the case away I would make it a feature of my living room and I went with the tower 500 and I really love it and everyone that has gone over has mentioned how cool it looks

804

I’m using a NetApp ds4246 to hold 24 drives, and it’s glorious - embrace the rack mount life. Although my computers themselves are all HP Prodesk minis, which are tiny and amazing, 1 u high and can fit two across on a shelf.

Used to have a node 304. Very happy I got a hot swap Roswell 4u case

I went with this https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/cs382/. It’s pretty decent but you are putting a hard cap on expansion. Also the fans it comes with are pretty loud so I’d replace them.

Jonsbo N3 sounds like a good fit

I can vouch for the node 804, although I haven’t used the others so I can’t say which is the best.

I use a fractal design node 304. It’s pretty cool, but has all the limitations and problems you would expect from a case that size.