The Storage Tower is another innovative storage enclosure solution from Addonics that offers tremendous customization flexibility to fit practically any storage application that you can ever imagine. Comes with four standard 5.25" drive bays, a strong power supply and in a compact footprint, the Storage Tower can accommodate up to four full height optical drives or six 3.5" hard drives or a combination of these devices in various mixes. A variety of SATA, IDE or ATAPI devices can be installed into the Storage Tower. The drives inside the Storage Tower can be individually interfaced to computers via USB 3.0/2.0, eSATA, or can be combined into one mini SAS or Multilane connection or a Port Multiplier (PM) to form a large capacity, high performance external RAID system with redundancy to protect against data loss.
Example of back panels with different interface connection
Using the back panel with eSATA, the latest mini SAS or Multilane connector, you can build yourself a high performance (up to 6 Gbits/sec using SATA III) external storage system or a terabyte storage farm, and connect it up to 6 feet away from the computer system! Any SATA devices inside the Storage Tower can be easily converted into eSATA (the latest external SATA standard). Each drive can be connected directly to a eSATA host controller for maximum throughput in any system. For better cable management, multiple SATA devices inside the Storage Tower can be connected to system via one cable by installing a Port Multiplier (PM), a mini SAS or a Multilane bridge.
The Storage Tower with a built-in Hardware Port Multiplier (HPM) is an ideal external RAID storage solution for sharing by different computers. Once the HPM is configured, the entire RAID set can be attached to any eSATA port or USB 3.0 port of any system. Click here for a Port Multiplier Tutorial.
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illustration of 3.5" hard drive installation
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When combining with various Addonics Drive Cartridge System, the Disk Array and the optional drive mounting brackets, the configuration possibilities for the Storage Tower become almost endless. For the security conscious, Diamond Cipher or Ruby Cipher Drive Cartridge System can be added to provide bullet proof hardware security to protect the data.
Examples of various storage devices that can be installed into the Storage Tower
Click here for a complete List of Storage Devices that can be Installed into the Storage Tower
A list of devices which can be installed in the Storage Tower
To ensure efficient cooling of all the storage devices inside the enclosure, the Storage Tower includes two high CFM cooling fans and well ventilated side panels. Both side panels can also be easily slide open to provide easy access for storage device installation and cable connection.
Note: drive mounting brackets and connecting cables outside the Storage Tower as shown in the above pictures are for illustration purpose and are available as options.
- Great for variety of storage applications - external RAID storage, Video storage, Server storage
- Four standard 5.25" drive bays
- Choice of back panels with the following connections:
- Hardware Port Multiplier-XU (AD5HPMREU) to connect up to five SATA/SATA II/SATA III hard drives to computer via any eSATA or USB 3.0/2.0 port. Can be configured as RAID 1, 0, 10, 5, 3, BIG, or Clone mode. (RAID setting is configured through onboard dip switches or included Windows software)
- 5x1 eSATA Hardware Port Multiplier-XA Enclosure Version (AD5HPMRXA-E) to connect up to five SATA/SATA II/SATA III hard drives to computer via any eSATA port. Can be configured as RAID 1, 0, 10, 5, 3, BIG, or Clone mode. (RAID setting is configured through onboard dip switches or included Windows software)
- 5X1 eSATA Port Multiplier (AD5SARPM-E) to connect up to five SATA/SATA II/SATA III hard drives to computer via one eSATA cable (requires a PM compatible SATA controller). Drives appears as individual drive or can form a RAID group using the RAID utility from the OS or the controller
- Mini SAS bridge (AD4SMSAS) to connect up to four SATA/SATA II/SATA III hard drives to system equipped with mini SAS connector (SFF-8088)
- Multilane bridge (AD4SAML) to connect up to 4 SATA/SATA II/SATA III hard drives to system equipped with Multilane connector
- JBOD USB (AD4IDEU2) to connect up to four IDE hard drives as JBOD (one large combined drive or two large combined drives), or four individual drives to computer via one USB 2.0/1.1 port
- Four eSATA connectors (AD4ESASB) for connecting four SATA/SATA II/SATA III ard drives to system via four individual eSATA cables.
- Stylish clear acrylic exterior
- Light weight and sturdy aluminum construction
- Compact size
- Ventilated side panels for efficient air flow
- Dual ball bearing high CFM low noise cooling fans
- 220W 110/220 power supply
- Individual drive can be hot swapped* when SATA Mobile Racks or Disk Array are installed into the drive bay
Note:
1. For eSATA connection, hot swap feature depends on the controller. All Addonics SATA controllers support the hot swap feature. The Storage Tower can be powered down and restarted to swap out hard drive without rebooting the system.
2. Individiaul drive configuration is only supported with PM compatible controllers or via USB connection.
3. IDE and SATA hard drive can be mixed in the Storage Tower. IDE hard drives can be changed to SATA interface with the addition of IDE - SATA converter. SATA hard drives can be changed to IDE interface with the addition of SATA - IDE converter.
