A high density storage housing includes a housing and a plurality of drive carriers. The housing includes a storage area and a motherboard. The storage area extends across at least a portion of a width and at least a portion of a depth of the housing. The motherboard extends across the storage area and includes a plurality of first connectors. The plurality of drive carriers each include a second connector configured to mate directly with one of the plurality of first connectors. Moreover, the second connector of each drive carrier of the plurality of drive carriers is disposed on a long side of its drive carrier so that the plurality of drive carriers mount storage drives to the housing in a sideways orientation.