Port Multiplier Enclosure so expensive?

[s333allnetbuilder]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=Port+Multiplier

These Port Multiplier Enclosure cost $250+ for a 4bay.

From what I see it is just a small metal case with fans and a mini power supply.
Basically, lets you externally house your SATA drives that normally would be inside the PC case.
A generic regular computer case is way cheaper than this.

Why is it so expensive? Any cheaper alternatives?

 

[00Roush]

Typically these come with not only the enclosure, they also come with a RAID card which adds to the price. Along with that they have a backplane that is generally hot swappable and includes some type of circuitry to allow 4 drives to use one eSATA cable.

Basically you are right. These enclosures allow you to house 4 SATA drives just like you could in a standard case. The difference is these are more modular and when used with the provided RAID card can provide a very fast RAID array.

For more information about port multipliers look here http://www.sata-io.org/portmultiplier.asp and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_multiplier

To help you find a cheaper alternative I would have to know what you are trying to accomplish.

00Roush