JONSBO N1 Mini-ITX NAS Chassis, ITX Computer Case, 5+1 Disk Bays NAS Mini Aluminum with Steel Plate Case, Built-in 14cm Fan, Only SFX Power Bite, Support H 70mm CPU Cooler

This case came recommended on many sites and build lists. I agree that it is well worth the money. It's got it all. Small form factor (relative to the drive bays). Nice layout and access to the drive bays. One screw and the cover slides open to 5 hot swap bays. You can stand it up or lay it down. It's got great air flow with the large included fan. There's really a lot to like and not much to complain about. If you are building a NAS this is the case for you.

Writing this cause I ran into a big issue that luckily has a very simple solution. If the sata ports on your motherboard are right angle, they are blocked by a metal side wall that separated the HDD bays from the motherboard. I used an m.2 card for the HDD bays but I wanted the other satas for ssds that I could shove near the psu. I wedged a right angle cable in there after a bunch of finagling but it turns out, they actually make very flush adapters that can convert two right angle satas to upward facing ones. Wish I saw those first. My only complaint is as with all cases, I wish cable management had like a few more inches. It's very difficult to connect the molex cables and sata cables to the HDD backplane. You have to flatten them really flush cause there's no extra space. Other shell has as sled on the bottom that slides over the HDD backplane completely flush. I used foil SATA cables without the thick wiring to have more room. They can probably break easier you just need to get them in place once. I got everything to fit on my first try and the top part slid on easily but I'd take one star off cause either it needed a slightly better cable layout or better instructions.

I was on the fence to buy one of these until it was shipped by Amazon.Case review- Case ships as silver, but has a blue hue to it. Not annoying, but not silver either. The case is held together using screws, not rivets- a huge bonus. There were no sharp edges, no poorly threaded screws, no dings or scratches and no missing pieces. Everything fits will and doesn't need extra effort to put the outer casing on.My setup- Asrock H370m-itx, Intel 8700k, 32gb Corsair ram, 5 x 20gb Seagate Exos, 1- 4TB Samsung SSD, Corsair SF600 power supply and an Intel 10GB 540T2.Using it as a plex NAS. I HAVE MODDED MINE. I unscrewed and rotated the hard drive cage 180 degrees, so you can see the HDD labels and not the back of them. The system is run without the outer metal casing on. I run open air, it runs cooler. Having the fun push thru the hard drives from front to back works best for hard drive cooling. My 5 drives run in the 90's F. I have not tested the case closed, only open, so I can not vouch for the temps in that config. Unit sits about 5 feet from my location and is very quiet- no rattles, vibrations or unknown sounds coming from the case.I did not use the hard drive straps that are provided. The drives are fairly easy to remove if needed. I also did not use the factory HDD backplate- personal preference only. Backplate was well built and works fine.Case is well built and if I need to expand, will be ordering another one.

Got this for my first DIY NAS/homeserver. The metal exterior is really nice, even if it makes the whole package heavy once built. The fact that the whole build sits in the 'core' of the PC makes the final steps of building really clean. Had a few errant cable to manage that were getting pinched. But, if you're taking your time and being careful, you won't have an issue with it.Of course, now that it's built and set up in a semi-permanent location, I haven't thought about it at all. But on the occasion where I have to actually press the power button, I always chuckle and think how good it looks.

This thing has a great compact design for home-built NASs. I love the thick aluminum construction, and the design that looks as good standing as a tower or on its side like a more traditional NAS or mini PC.My only real complaint is related to noise. I have four high usage / high availability 7200RPM HDDs in the case. Of course a case with sufficient ventilation cannot suppress the inherent noise of that many rust spinners, but part of the issue is that the case seems to send those sound waves into whatever surface it's sitting on, whether it's on the rubberized side or on the four feet. I have it sitting on its side on a thick layer of foam padding just to not annoy neighbors downstairs (there were complaints). I imagine Jonsbo could have provided feet that do a better job of reducing those vibrations, and I really wish they had.

It is bigger than I pictured, but let's face it, it holds 5 3.5 inch HDDs and uses a SFX power supply. That takes a bit of room.Love this case though. I am using it for 4 3.5 inch HDDs (plus 1 m.2 on the MB), Ubuntu as my OS as a NAS. Using a 12th Gen i3 CPU, and the temp is running at ~33 degrees while I am copying files over (~5TB of Data). HDD's are running ~34, which is a bit warmer than I like (but still within the safe zone), but it has been running hard for multiple hours at this point, so I don't expect it to run that hot normally. (other HDDs not in use are at 28 degrees). Overall, I am very pleased.[EDIT: I checked the temp history on the drive above, and in the QNAP NAS that it used to be in, it ran MUCH hotter. Lower to mid 40s)][EDIT 2: After a few weeks of using this, my drives are anywhere from 28 to 31 degrees. SUPER happy with that. Of course under heavy load they will get hotter, but I haven't seen them any higher that the upper 30's.