Thank you for clarifying the problem you are trying to solve, it makes giving advice much easier.
Based on what you have said, I would say that you have 2 main options.
- Make a Direct Attach Storage(DAS): This is just the fancy name for the idea that you mentioned. As you said, you just need to strip everything but the drives and the power supply out of the old case and then either run the drive cables out to the SAS HBA in the new server or if you want minimize the cables running from one machine to the other and get something a bit cleaner looking you can use internal-to-external adapters. For additional information and details on making a DAS I would suggest that you read the following forum threads:
- Migrate your hardware: This may or may not work depending on what hardware you have but the upside to this option is that all of your hardware will be in one box. If the motherboard in your new server is not proprietary (heavily customized to only work well with the factory setup) and is a standard size with standard standoff positions and it will fit within your old case, you might be able to take the components out of the new server and install them into your old case.
I hope that helps