With the two aluminum doors shut, the front of the iStar D-Storm D300 case is void of anything that really indicates its purpose. The only controls visible are the pair of USB ports, and indicator LEDs. The jet black paint has a matt surface finish and picks up scuffs easily. The handles to open the aluminum doors are tucked away along the vertical center of the case, yet the ridge you're supposed to grasp onto so narrow that it can be difficult for someone with large fingers to open.

The aluminum doors restrict access to the four 5-1/4" drives where removeable hard drives, tape drives, or optical drives might be installed. The center lock controls access to both doors at the same time, and operates by turning 90°. Two generic computer keys are included in the case, but to be realistic it wouldn't be too hard to pick this lock.

A foam dust filter is held in place behind each aluminum door, and slides up out of the aluminum door for easy cleaning. Along either edge are the aluminum handles for holding onto the case, and steel flanges for attaching this 3U box to the rack at two points. We'd recommend using a server tray to support the rest of the chassis weight. Having worked with 19" racks a lot in the past year, it would have been awesome to have a rapid install kit for the iStar D-Storm D300 3U case... but I guess that's something only Dell does these days. In either case, these circular holes are compatible with square hole posts (and cage nuts) or circular hole posts so compatibility is broad.

With the two aluminum doors open, we have access to four 5-1/4" drive bays, two 3-1/2" drive bays, and the power and reset buttons. If no drives are installed the EMI shields vented well enough to allow airflow to pass-through server from front to rear.

At the rear of the iStar D-Storm D300 3U case there is space for up to seven expansion cards, a removable I/O shield, two 60mm fan vents, and a spot for a full-size ATX power supply. Because this is a 3U chassis, there is not much in the way of anything extra; save for a pair of SCSI knockouts.

It would have been really great to have an additional set of reset and power buttons on the rear of the chassis as well. There are none, which is rather unfortunate because these buttons tend to be very convenient when working on the wrong side of a rack of servers..

The top panel of the iStar D-Storm D300 3U case is held in place with a single thumb screw at the rear (and two screws on either side which aren't totally necessary). The top cover has about one third of its surface dedicated towards air vents.

Looking along the side of the 19" iStar D-Storm D300 3U case, which measures 20.8" deep, we find threaded screw holes for metal rails to be installed. The handles have plenty of room for gripping onto the chassis, which is important as a fully laden server is heavy, and the hardware inside very expensive. The entire case is 5.2" high.