Storage Pod Assembly Tour
In this section we're going to walk through the assembly of a Standard 2.0 Pod with all standard/recommended parts. If you have any notes or ideas on assembling your own Pod, please let us know.
We start with an empty 2.0 Pod enclosure.
Add the screws to the base for the standoffs.
Bore holes for later.
Add standoffs.
Add fan bracket to center of enclosure. Line up drill holes and screw in to place.
Prepare fans for mounting
Mount fans as shown. When mounting fans, be sure air is being drawn from the front of the unit to the back, toward the motherboard and power supplies. This is a common pitfall when assembling units.
Drop in rear panel and tighten screws
Install I/O plate to rear panel as shown. Some customers have noted they have skipped this step, but we still recommend installing the I/O plate to keep dust from entering the unit.
Prepare Power button by bundling the wires and tying them off as shown. Once power button is in place, fasten with nut and tighten.
Track wires around pegs as shown, running back toward fans and through the middle panel as shown.
Prepare processor, RAM, and motherboard.
Line up motherboard with rear panel insert.
Connect Power SW & Power LED wires to motherboard as shown.
Install RAM modules as shown.
Prepare motherboard for processor chip installation.
Fasten processor to motherboard. Make sure the mounting pegs on the CPU heat sink and fan click to lock in place. Failing to properly attach the heat sink/fan can cause problems with the unit's function.
Prepare SATA controller cards and install as shown.
Prepare gasket for power supply.
We like to tie off the cords for the power supply, as shown. This keeps things neat and tidy for later.
Please note that Power Supply 1 DOES NOT have cables to run to the motherboard. This is the easiest way to differentiate the two power supplies. This picture is of Power Supply 1.
Place gasket around power supply and secure with screws as shown.
Thread yellow and black power supply cable through fan bracket to the other side as shown, followed by two sets of black, yellow and red cables.
Thread two more sets of power supply cables through the second fan bracket hole as shown.
Prepare second power supply.
Note the extra cables on Power Supply 2. These connect to the motherboard and are not present on Power Supply 1.
It may be a good idea to place some bubble wrap or a towel down on the case while you install the second power supply to avoid scuffing or scratching the chassis.
Connect the two wires from the power supply to the motherboard as shown.
Drop in and secure the crossbar between the two wires to support the power supply.
Install gasket around power supply and install as before.
Tie down wires to secure in place.
Draw wires from second power supply through fan bracket as shown.
Attach fans to power supply 2 via yellow and black wire, as shown. We've heard of people connecting the fan's power directly to the motherboard. We do not recommend this.
After connecting fan to power supply, connect red RPM cable to motherboard.
Tie down any lose wires to avoid confusion and prevent fans from getting tangled.
Prepare backplanes.
When connecting SATA and power wires to backplanes, we find it best to wrap the wires as shown. This keeps things neat and secure and leaves more room for other wires later.
Secure backplanes to standoffs.
Fasten excess wires to floor of chassis.
Take note of proper positioning for plugging backplanes in to SATA connectors. (The second backplane is on the left)
Attach third backplane to SATA connector and secure to standoffs as before.
Tie off the first row of wires to make room for the next.
Attach fourth backplane to SATA connector as shown.
Backplanes and wires should now look like this.
Whenever possible, tie off bundles of wires to avoid any lose wires and keep things tidy.
The next backplane connects to the port directly in front of the last one.
This backplane gets positioned as shown.
Plug the next backplane in as shown.
Position the backplane as shown.
The next backplane connects to the front connector of the first SATA card.
Position it here and connect to standoffs.
Take the remaining power supply wires and run them along the fan bracket as shown to prepare for the last two backplanes. These are the toughest to install.
Connect the backplane cable to the SATA card shown.
The backplane is positioned as shown.
Make sure to tuck away any loose wires to make room for the final backplane. Connect the final SATA wire to the last slot as shown. Note there are four unused connections at the top of each card.
Install the last backplane as shown, tucking any remaining wires under and behind the backplane.
The final backplane arrangement should look like this.
Drop in and secure the drive panels.
Prepare the fan panel and fans.
When your fans are secured to the panel, secure the wires as shown to reduce the chances of them getting caught in a fan.
Attach the fan panel.
Prepare boot drive and cables.
Secure boot drive to side of chassis.
Attach power supply to boot drive.
Connect boot drive to motherboard.
Start plugging in your hard drives!
Line up and secure top covers.
Congratulations! You now have a fully assembled Storage Pod ready to test and deploy. For more detailed information on testing see our Assembly Notes section.
- Disclaimer - The information on this site is provided as a free support service. Protocase, and it's subsidiary company, 45 Drives, provides this support and guidance through this wiki, but can not be held responsible for any damage or loss of data that may occur through the use of any instructions found herein. Please use at your own risk.
