NORCO 4U Rack Mount 20 x Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS 6G Drive Bays Server Rack Mount RPC-4020

This case is amazing. It only took me an hour to put all the components in and hook it all up. Thes most time consumming part was routing all that SATA cables through the fan / firewall. Make sure not to get the SFF-8087 cables, i assumed i needed them but that is with the older models. If you get the newer model it is straight sata to sata connections no mini sas anymore. Other than that i can not add to the other reviews. I love the size it is about the same size as any mid atx case like my antec 900 about same size. The case comes with every screw you need and tools as well wich is cool, it is the best price you can find for price to bang for your buck. Anyone that needs hot swap do not take shortcuts buy this case i purchased a case with 9 internal 3.5 inch hdd and i regret it it took 5 hours to wire and get set up and yes i saved money but i will never do that again, DO NOT HESITATE BUY THIS CASE YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED.

The SATA/SAS backplane DOA.and their support was useless so I'm not stuck with a case and a lot of junk included.So if the backplane weren't dead this case would get about 3 stars or maybe 4 considering the price.But I guess it really is a case of getting what you pay for.The case itself is solid and very heavy.I purchased a replacement fan wall that has 3 of the 120mm fans rather than 4 of the smaller fans.It didn't fit quite right. So the actual construction while solid isn't quite as precises as I would like.The replacement part is now installed but at the cost of stripping the threading on a few screw holes and a few screws are a little crooked.The bed for the mother board had holes is most of the right places and didn't require much fudging to get a mainstream ATX board mounted.The same goes for the cards I installed.The drive bays aren't screwless, which is nice but not a requirement. You have to install a drive into a caddy before installing it.I assume a lot of other people have had no problems with theirs, so you might get lucky and not have problems but from reviews on other sites I would say you have a non-trivial chance of getting a lemon so consider this before buying:how much work is it going to take to put your PC togetherthen how much more work will it take to take it all apartand then add in the work to rebox a heavy large caseand then ship it out to get it it replaced it the single serious feature about this case doesn't actually work.if you don't get a dud you're safe, if you do get a dud it's not as quite as easy to just return something this large and heavy.Some review I read said the buyer recieved really quick and helpful responses from norco.Well I haven't. So maybe it was a fluke or a plant or I just got assigned some unmentored support newhire.During each interaction their messages kept focusing on single lines of my previous message and would ignore all other parts of those messages even the parts that explained what they wanted. It was as though the person could hold about 1 sentence in their head at a time and that was the only thing they could use to try understand what I was describing.So among other things, if you could include all the details in 1 single simple sentence it seemed like the support responder couldn't understand the whole situation. Also they didn't seem to be able to keep track of details from previous messages.So the whole interaction when no where.They asked for the newegg order number.... even after reporting "purchased on amazon"asked for the serial number of the sata controller after mentioning that I was using the controller that was built in to the mother board.The backplane/drive array has no switches or jumpers or anything to config.It has only power and sata/sas connectors.So they asked for pictures of the inside of the case..... huh?Rather than asking "did you really plug in the power?"Plus there really is very little space between the fan wall and the back the drive array so it's a huge mess of cables, so I don't know how clueless support is going to be able to make sense of that chaos if they can't even keep more than 1 sentence in their heads at a time, but who knows maybe it would have helped after all. Thought pretty difficult to plug a sata cable into a power connector and other than that I don't know what else there is to checkSo I've written this whole thing off as a bad investment and a learning experience.And unless you have serious need for a low cost risky case for storage I or have a really strong tolerance for receiving and reshipping large heavy items or dealing with bad support I wouldn't recommend this

Inside of the case is fine and has reasonable solutions for cable routing through the fan wall.The trays for the hard drives are inexpensive plastic. As long as care is taken, I think they will survive infrequent use. (if you have frequent use, then maybe you need a better brand of hard drive). The LED solution for the drive power and activity lights is simple but elegant. It's a nice looking case.Trying to rack mount the case is where the fun ends. Setting aside the fact that Norco can't ship a non-defective rail set, the screw holes for the rails are not positioned properly vertically. You will not be able to mount this in a 4U space - it will be off by about an inch, so you will lose a U. I'm also disappointed that they did not provide a variety of mounting holes so I could choose from one of my three other rail sets. (why can't the whole industry standardize this, for that matter?)Also, the ears leave no space for rail mounting screws as Norco assumes you will use their screwless rail system (which means you need square holes for your rack). If you manage to get one of their rail sets installed, the screwless brackets will not present much of an issue for pushing in the case almost all the way. If, however, you rails that are screwed in to the rack, the screw heads will keep the case from being pushed in all the way. This should probably be only an aesthetic issue unless you have very tight clearance on your cabinet door.Also, the holes in the ears for screwing the case into the rack (so it doesn't accidently slide out while you're pulling an adjacent case) - those are purely decorative. They don't line up since it doesn't fit a proper 4U space. But, since there is now a 1U clearance split unevenly below and above this case, you will never have that issue and rack rash will never be an issue either.Also, be aware, this is NOT a screwless cover. In fact, the cover is secured by 4 tiny countersunk screws (2 each on left and right sides). This is torture if you need to open the case while in the rack.

You know those little slots by the PCI expansion slots? You know how chassis normally has little slits for the "nub" of a PCI bracket?Sure you do, it's about 1 cm wide, and it's on the opposite side from where you screw the bracket to the chassis.Well, this (my) chassis didn't have these slits. This means that your HBA/ RAID card, extra NIC, really anything that plugs into a PCI slot wont properly seat into the slot.How did I deal with this? I got the Dremel out.Also, you know how modern chassis have tool-less removal of the lid?Having said the bad - here's the good:It doesn't weight as much as other 4U chassis, but still feels solid.Overall, would not recommend it - it's just not up to par with other chassis.