14 DAY TRIAL // IT companies and various people keep talking about RAID arrays and their benefits, but cases who actually make it simple to use this sort of configurations are scarce, so AIO decided to do something about that.
Granted, setting up SATA storage units in RAID mode is possible on any system, regardless of case, as long as the motherboard supports it.
Still, it helps if it is possible to hot-swap drives without having to turn the whole machine inside out.
AIO's Myriad microATX case is the sort of chassis that tries to meet this need, being equipped with a heavy door on the front.
Said door allows access to seven hot-swappable hard disk drive bays, although the trays could be somewhat annoying since they need the HDDs to be screwed on.
That means that hot-swapping a drive involves pulling out the tray, unscrewing the failed unit, screwing the new one in its place and then pushing the tray back in.
Still, there is something particularly unique about the AIO Myriad: its port multiplier.
Out of the seven trays, five are connected to this port multiplier, making it possible to create a so-called soft RAID without needing a RAID controller in the system.
That means that five HDDs will be connected to the motherboard through a single SATA connector, be it in RAID 0, 1, 3, 5 or 10 mode.
As for everything else, AIO gave the case a 5.25-inch drive bays for ODDs (optical disk drives), plus a 2.5-inch bay and an USB 3.0 port, among other things.
There are four expansion slots as well, allowing video cards, or other sorts of add-in boards (AiBs), to measure up to 350mm in length.
Finally, the company tossed in a watercooling hole and made all the expansion slots screw-less. No price was mentioned, but European retailers should have it up for order soon, if they don't already. No clue when, if ever, other regions are going to get it.