When it comes to multi-drive hard-drive towers, pricing and costs will vary based on the number of bays on the towers. In some cases, the brand name on the drive will cause the price to vary. In order to best budget for your needs, you'll want to start with the least number of drives, unless you know your needs will surpass that point within a short time period.

As you begin looking into the type of drive tower that you want, read unbiased reviews to help you get a better understanding of the pros and cons. In many cases you may find it is more beneficial to increase your budget to purchase from a company with a warranty program than go with the cheapest model.

1. Determine whether your needs can be met with a two-bay hard drive.

2. Get prices for multi-drive hard-drive towers with at least four bays.

3. Consider purchasing standalone duplication towers for advanced functions.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start by pricing a multi-drive hard drive with two bays

The most basic type for a multi-drive hard-drive tower is one with two bays. These typically cost less than other types and you can upgrade almost any hard drive to one with two bays without the need for a technician. You can find most two-bay hard drives in the hundred-dollar price range, though some companies do charge more.

I recommend: LTG Technology sells two-bay hard drives ranging from $120 to $420. It offers FAQs and other useful information on its website, including articles on hard disk upgrades. ThinkComputers provides reviews and articles on selecting multi-drive hard drives. It also provides links to vendors selling the reviewed products.

Compare prices for hard-drive towers for storage

Whether you need to increase your the storage capacity for your computer or you discover that a two-bay hard drive satisfy your needs, you can look into other options like hard drives with four bays or ones designed to operate as storage farms. Prices on these range from $130 to $300.

I recommend: Addonics Technologies provides information on how to use its mini-storage tower as a storage farm. Its storage towers are smaller and weigh less than other kinds of multi-drive storage devices. They cost between $100 and $300. Kintronics provides information on the features, server selection and the specifications for its drive towers. It builds to your requirements, so prices vary.

Consider upgrading to standalone multi-drive hard-drive Towers

With a standalone tower, you won't tie up your personal computer (PC) when you need to use it. Many of these multi-drive hard-drive towers are designed as duplicators, which can be useful for musicians making CDs. Depending on the number of drives, these can range from $160 to $7,000.

I recommend: Princeton Disc provides detailed descriptions for its duplication towers. Most of its towers are standalone towers. CD Copy Online.com provides a brief write up to help you determine which duplicator to buy. You can also search its site for a multiple hard-drive tower that meets your search criteria.

Simply put, a drive tower is an enclosure built to store computer drives. Mostly, these are hard disk drives, though they can be CD or DVD drives or other types of drives as well.

In addition to mounting hardware, a drive tower typically contains a power supply, cooling fan and connecting cables, so you can insert a drive right out of the box it came in.

Benefits of multi-drive storage devices include:

1. Multi-drive, hard-drive towers use less power than individual hard drives;

2. You can expand the drives, since most of them operate when only some of the bays are full, allowing you to add drives as you have need;

3. And the drives offer an inexpensive and easy backup solution.

Action Steps
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Get more room for your computer data with multi-drive storage devices

There are several options if you want to expand your storage options without buying another computer. Attached storage can be one or more drives in a separate enclosure that attaches directly to a single computer. Network attached storage attaches to your computer's network server or network hub, so it is accessible from all computers on the network.

I recommend: Find a simple and stylish multiple hard-drive solution that works with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems at Data Robotics. Choose from several multiple-drive network attached storage towers for home or small business at Netgear. Take advantage of an expandable media-storage device that also functions as a home or small business network server from Hewlett-Packard.

Store and backup more data with hard drive towers

Some people call multi-drive, hard-drive towers RAID towers, which stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. This sometimes means the drives write the same data to more than one drive to guard against failure of a single drive. Hard-drive towers can often support several types of hard-disk technology, though many people prefer Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drives, since they are faster and you can remove or add to the drive when the network is running.

I recommend: Choose from several brands and styles of multi-drive, computer storage devices from the storage experts at Addonics Technologies. Find inexpensive SATA and RAID towers at CalOptic.

Put your network storage in one place with a multi-drive storage device

Larger corporate networks need devices with room for more hard drives and other options that support the large amount of power consumption and cooling needs these larger quantities of hard drives require.

I recommend: Find several multi-drive devices for storing data in various price ranges, including large full-featured server chassis and rackmount enclosures, from costcentral. Choose large multiple-bay drive enclosure models for your backup and network needs at CTI Computech International.

Quickly produce CDs and DVDs with duplication towers

Duplication towers are able to copy several CDs or DVDs at one time, because they contain several CD or DVD burner drives. Some of these devices grow as your needs grow, allowing you to add more drives into open bays as you need them.

I recommend: Choose from a number of CD/DVD multi-drive towers built for the purpose of disc duplication at Princeton Disc. Select from a wide variety of CD and DVD duplication towers and automated duplicators at SuperMediaStore.com, which offers weekly hardware deals.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Multi-drive hard drives can serve as one kind of backup to guard your data, but should not be your only backup. In case of flood, fire or theft, all of your data can be lost if you don't also have an off-site backup option.

Multi-drive hard drives can serve to add storage to your network or become extra storage for a single computer. Some have features that allow them to serve as automatic backup to protect your data, and others expand your storage capacity to hold movies or music or other large file libraries.

Product reviews compare and contrast many features and benefits of the specific drive tower they are reviewing. Multi-drive hard drive towers advice and ratings can discuss many features, including:

1. The number of bays included in the drive tower, which corresponds to the number of drives it will accept.

2. The function of the tower, so you know whether or not the multiple bays serve as automatic backups of the other drives.

3. The connection of the drive enclosure to the computer or network and whether it will attach directly to a router.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get information on the benefits of multi-drive hard drive towers

Find out what a multi-drive hard drive is and why you might want one. Reviewers often group these devices, sometimes called multiple-bay hard drive enclosures or Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, with hard drive enclosures that hold a single hard drive. Manufacturers gear multiple-bay units for networks that need a backup solution or more storage capacity.

I recommend: Find out more about network attached storage and its benefits at SuperMediaStore.com. Get detailed information on external hard drive enclosures and a review of the Hewlett-Packard Media Vault mv2120 500GB at ThinkComputers.

Read reviews for specific models of multi-drive storage devices

In-depth reviews of specific products are the best place to find detailed information about the products you are considering. Such reviews will often have several photos of the device, will analyze the ease of setting it up and using it, and will compare its value to similar products. These reviews are opinions, so it's good to look for more than one to get a complete picture and to make sure the source does not receive financial compensation from the manufacturers for the reviews.

I recommend: Find a review of the SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive 2TB storage device by Fabrik at Videomaker. Read a review of the QNAP TS-509 Pro Turbo 5-Drive NAS server at Tweak Town. Learn the pros and cons and best uses for the Data Robotics 4-Bay Drobo Robotic Storage Array Enclosure at Buzzillions.

View lists with reviews and prices for recommended drive towers

Online review sites have varying information about multi-drive devices for storing data. They often have ratings, either by users or by editors, or sometimes both, which you can use to compare the overall quality of different products. You can also check prices and get information about features and benefits of various models.

I recommend: Find reviews and check prices of a list of multi-drive computer storage devices and other storage solutions at ZDNet. Browse a list of network storage devices at PC World, where you can filter your results by a number of different criteria, compare prices, see the average user rating, and read user reviews.