Map out the locations for your Drives
Your Define R5 Case has 2 Optical Drives bays at the top.
The middle cage can house up to 5 3.5” Hard Disk Drives.
The bottom cage can house up to 3 3.5” Hard Disk Drives.
In addition you can mount 2 2.5” SSDs on the rear panel.
You have the following 7 drives to mount:
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ASUS DVD Burner
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LG Blu-ray Burner
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Western Digital 3.5” Hard Drive #1
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Western Digital 3.5” Hard Drive #2
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Western Digital 3.5” Hard Drive #3
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Samsung 850 EVO SSD
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Samsung 850 PRO SSD
What is the ideal way to mount the DVD & Blu-ray burners, 3 Hard Drives, and 2 SSDs?
The ASUS DVD should go on the top bay, because this will be used most frequently.
The LG Blu-ray goes below. It will be used on occasion.
The 3 Hard Drives goes into the middle cage.
Stacking up Hard Drives causes heat to build up.
This is why you should leave the alternate bays empty.
This configuration also helps the air flow from the front intake fans.
The Samsung 2.5” 850 PRO SSD goes into the bottom bay.
The Samsung 2.5” 850 EVO SSD goes on the bay above this.
With this game plan in mind, let’s begin by unboxing and mounting the 7 Drives.