i second and third this option.
Return.
will the above linked hotswap cage fit the l4500? i know that i wonāt actually need the hot swap feature but since itās power/sata all in one i think that would work better for me. iām getting more sas2 hdd and figured itād be better cable management using the breakout cable from the hba and molex from the psu instead of getting the special breakout cable to use with sas drives that arenāt connected to a backplane. does that make sense or would it overall not really make a difference?
Pound that sucker out, good as new 
No, assuming you paid close to retail price, Iād probably return it. I could probably fix it myself, but probably wouldnāt be happy either unless I got it for a steep discount.
I paid $126 shipped. Iām debating on returning it or not. The biggest issue(other than the obvious) is the lock on the front doesnāt have the key. Iām pretty sure I replace that but what kind of dingbat keeps the key??
As for the banged up rear, itās not too terrible. The case still closes and I was planning on using the case as a DAS. Iāve bent case io ports before,not this bad, and it was a simple āpush it back in placeā.
The other issue I have is,although not that big of a deal, is that I donāt have a box thatās big enough and not banged up or material to actually protect the case(not that it really matters). Which means being more out of pocket(quick search,seems around $40). Pretty sure amazon will cover return shipping or something but it seems like May be more of a hassle that spending a few minutes being careful with a dead blow.
Only you can answer whatās worth it to you. Given the current market on these, might improve the willingness to make it work.
Given how Iām married to someone working at that place, my advice is to throw it back in the box it came in, along with the same dunnage, wrap it in enough packing tape that makes you feel comfortable that it wonāt fall apart in return shipping, and go through the return process and make sure to indicate itās a damaged product. You should have no issue whatsoever getting a prepaid return label.
Any recommendations for a 12+ bay rack mount case? Preferably similar to this one so I can use my psu. Or a single psu SM or something
I figured as much. Like thereās really no packing in there. Underneath the bubble wrap was an empty hard drive box and what Iām guessing was a motherboard box and random styrofoam bits. Iāll take another look at it tomorrow and see what I can do,if anything, to the damage.
Iām not the most knowledgable person on that front, but from what I understand the market is slim pickings right now. Thatās why you see people asking about the mining version. I know of no other comparables even in the same realm of that price.
What seller did you purchase from? Iām guessing a 3rd party? Was it fulfilled by Amazon at least?
I was looking at that a bit ago. Pretty sure It was 3rd party because it was listed as used but it said fulfilled by amazon services llc.
If it was fulfilled from Amazon, you should not have found that stuff in the box. The return should have gone through their warehouse dept, re-wrapped and possibly re-boxed to get ready to be sold. A lot of the warehouse deals happen because the manufacturer doesnāt even want the item back.
Based on you not mentioning this being a warehouse deal, Iām betting it was 3rd party sale and not even fulfilled by amazon. If thatās the case, youāll have to go through the seller to arrange shipping back. I avoid those sales on Amazon at all costs simply because itās too much of a hassle of dealing with those people.
Was it prime shipping or standard. Did it take a while to arrive ?
Looked again and it says sold by amazon, remembered it wrong. It was listed as prime but took about a week to get here(5-6 days). When I clicked the above link in this thread it said one left with prime shipping. Starting to sound like the best option is to try and fix this thing
Yea, Iām struggling with this one. Your order looks like you bought from Amazon. But the package indicates the exact opposite. Itās hard to recomend something when the two contradict each other so much.
I would personally try and schedule a return before you do anything. If you can get a prepaid label, then you have your backup plan secure. I would then try and fix it. Worst case scenario, the repair fails and you send it back free for a full refund. Maybe an hour wasted. Best case, you fix it up and execute your original plan. Donāt ship it back, it wonāt affect you negatively.
Unlike the above experience, I got the one from ebay that I linked up above for $150. I took the bird-in-hand approach because Iāve been waiting a while.
Thankfully āseller refurbishedā = BNIB because it was packaged identically to unboxing videos. I rarely luck out on these and usually end up with busted stuff, but for once karma sided with me.
I like the layout, canāt wait to transplant my xpenology tower onto it. The fans are quiet, but Iām still considering replacing them if alternatives are even better.
Ok, hereās my general impression.
You could just get it over with and go with this: $259 RSV-L4412
You could consider the L4000C (edited from 4500) with this or this or this, but that last option gets you close to the cost of the pre-assembled $259 one.
The biggest thing youāre missing from the L4500 15 bay proper is that big metal sheet-thing on top of the cages. I think thatās really the piece that keeps the bays in place. If you donāt plan to move it a lot (why would you), then you could get by with a home-brew version. I would caution that the hot-swap racks get a bad rap on Amazon
Also edit: The lid would hit the fan board, youād have to move it
I still donāt think hot swap is worth it. The fan wall and +3 drive capacity of the L4500 is just superior.
Agreed, not unless you have a whole data center of these and youāre changing drives every other week. I do however like the cages with toolless HD clips.
I like the n400 but they donāt provide enough of those clips. Couldnāt find a source online for them either.
Good deal! Looks good. Couldnāt even tell there was previous damage.
At that price, Iād still wait