Best Cheap External Multiple Hard Drive Enclosure: Our Top Picks!

If you’re looking for some of the best cheap hard drive enclosures for multiple drives, we’ve got you covered right here.

Getting an external enclosure can provide you with a little bit more space inside your PC to fit other components in, be it one of the best AMD motherboards for gaming, as well as a bigger GPU or cooler for your CPU, for instance. Moreover, if you ever need to swap out one HDD or another, or just want to add more storage, then getting an external enclosure saves you from opening up your PC case.

Of course, defining what a ‘cheap’ enclosure is will be subjective depending upon your budget. In our experience, for an enclosure with 2-4 slots, you’ll be looking at anything from $50-100, and for even more drives and a more powerful feature set, you can be looking at anything from $150-$300.

You’ll also want to look out for what drives the respective enclosure supports as some will work for smaller 2.5″ drives, whilst others can accommodate the bigger 3.5″ ones. You can even get some that take both HDDs and SSDs, which is mighty convenient.

We’ve picked out some of the best cheap hard drive enclosures for you right here based on, specs, general reviews, and features that we’d say make them worth considering.

So, let’s get into it – here are some of the best cheap hard drive enclosures for multiple drives out there today.

Best Cheap External Multiple Hard Drive Enclosure

• Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station
• Sabrent USB 3.0 4 Bay Hard Drive Docking Station
• Inateck RGB SATA to USB 3.0 Hard Drive Docking Station
• ORICO 5 Bay USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Enclosure

Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station

This hard drive docking station connects through a single USB 3.0 port, allowing for fast data transfer, which allows for widespread compatibility for both desktops and laptops.

This docking station can support up to 10 TB, which allows for a significantly large amount of storage to be easily installed on the computer, easily and efficiently.

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It supports offline cloning for up to 60 MBps and supports Plug and play, meaning no drivers are needed.

Sabrent USB 3.0 4 Bay Hard Drive Docking Station

Expanded storage for your PC, allowing for up to four different drives to be easily installed and cooled by the top of the enclosure, which features a large cooling fan.

It allows for reading and writing four hard drives while allowing transfer speed up to 5 GB per second.

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The enclosure features a stylish black design and a LED indicators for both power and HDD access.

Inateck RGB SATA to USB 3.0 Hard Drive Docking Station

This Inateck enclosure allows you to slot in two drives, whether they’re SSDs or HDDs, which conveniently slot into the top of the enclosure.

It features a sleek matte black design alongside some cool looking RGB that is there for not just aesthetics. The lighting also acts as a means for you to tell when data is being transferred.

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The enclosure also supports the UASP transfer protocol and enables offline cloning too, which is mighty handy. The progress for the cloning can be seen via some convenient status LEDs next to the drive bays themselves.

In addition, expect to find that this Inateck option connects via one USB 3.0 connection which is nicely convenient

ORICO 5 Bay USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Enclosure

A premium design that can fit into a home office, gaming room, or even the office! This docking station offers up to five HDD bays that support up to 80 TB.

It features a Unibody Aluminum-Alloy body with Double Heat Dissipation, and this enclosure features a 4mm thickness which allows the enclosure to be firm and reliable.

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This enclosure supports plug-and-play and hot-swapping the hard drives ensuring that PC builders can quickly replace your hard drives should one fail.

Frequently Asked Questions

There are always a few questions that pop up time and time again, so here we’ll answer them the best we can, so you can make an informed decision on your next upgrade.

What is an HDD enclosure?

An HDD enclosure is simply somewhere you can put your hard drives and plug them into your PC for them to work. External enclosures, like the ones we’ve listed, can allow you to add more storage without opening your PC case to plug them in and can work with either 2.5 or 3.5-inch drives, and even SSDs if you get the right one.

Are all HDD enclosures the same?

In short, no. HDD enclosures do differ, especially given the respective size of the drive you’re inserting. Some will be 2.5 inches in size, and others 3.5, and some enclosures will have more slots than others, and may run at different speeds.

How much should I spend on an external hard drive enclosure?

This majorly depends on how many drives you’d like to connect up externally. If you’re wanting to connect up to 2 drives, then a good enclosure can run up upwards of $100, and for up to 5 drives or more, you’re looking at around $200-$300.

How do I use an external hard drive enclosure?

Put simply, all you need to do is connect up your hard drives by fitting them into the enclosure, and then plugging the enclosure into your computer via the USB cable.

Windows should then recognise the drives and you should be able to format and use them accordingly.

Does a hard drive enclosure need a fan?

It would make sense for your external hard drive enclosure to have a fan so it can be adequately cooled, and so it doesn’t overheat, so your drives can work at their best for longer.

Can I use an old internal hard drive externally?

In short, yes. If you’ve got an old internal hard drive, you can put it into a hard drive enclosure and plug it in, and you should be able to utilise your drive like any other HDD.