External storage devices are very popular nowadays as inside a typical computer case there is room for a limited number of hard disk drives and there are some users out there that store and use huge amounts of data. While using a dedicated external storage device comes with a number of advantages, there are a few lesser points too to that approach, as the higher price tag and the impossibility to upgrade the storage unit.

For users that like to go to the root of the problem and take the storage matter into their own hands, WiebeTech just announced the launch of an external hard disk drive enclosure that is able to house up to eight drives. This new product line is called RTX TrayFree and it allows users to scale their external storage solution by simply adding or removing hard disk drives.

The RTX TrayFree is very simple to operate as all users have to do is insert the desired number of 3.5 inch Serial ATA compliant hard disk drives right into the enclosure, without using drive trays or screws. Once the hard disk drive is securely fixed into the RTX TrayFree enclosure, it can be instantly used, without the need to perform any other operations.

The new external hard disk drive enclosures from WiebeTech are able to operate in both JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) and RAID modes and this fact adds a lot of flexibility, while the fact that all enclosures are also iSCSI compatible, helps users needing high data transferring rates as they support speeds up to 100MB per second.

Right now, the manufacturing company has two such external hard disk drive enclosures ready to ship, the RTX400 FireWire/JBOD model that comes with a price tag of $1100 and the RTX600 iSCSI RAID system that is more expensive and reaches the $2850 mark. The entry level solution is equipped with eight FireWire 800 ports as well as four high speed USB connectors and it is able to handle a maximum number of four hard disk drives. The higher level solution comes with six HDD bays that are shock protected and offers extended storage options like JBOD and several RAID configurations like RAID 0, 1+0, 3, 5 and 6.