Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 Case Review

The Disk Drive Bays

The Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 has two external 5.25” bays and eight internal 3.5”/2.5” bays in two cages. The case doesn’t have tool-less installation mechanisms for storage devices.

Figure 14: Default configuration of the disk drive bays

The Arc Midi R2 provides a very flexible configuration for its hard drive cages. You can remove the top cage to allow the installation of video cards longer than 11.4” (290 mm), or you can rotate it 90°.

Figure 15: Top hard drive cage rotated 90°

Figure 16: Top hard drive cage removed

The bottom cage can also be removed, but it is attached to the case using regular screws (the top cage is attached to the case using thumbscrews).

Each 3.5”/2.5” bay is actually a small drawer, and they come with rubber rings to reduce the vibration and noise produced by 3.5” hard disk drives.

Figure 17: One of the 3.5”/2.5” bays