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Conventional wisdom has taught us that affordable 2.5-inch portable drives usually fall short in terms of capacity but OWC’s new 1TB model changes this notion.
Mac and PC tech company Other World Computing has announced the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini on Tuesday. Filed as the first 2.5-inch 1TB portable storage, this drive covers all your bases with FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSata interfaces, allowing you to connect the device to just about any computer system and take advantage of the fastest interface available for up 300MB/s transfer speeds. The drive is fanless and USB-bus powered so road warriors won’t have to carry around an additional AC adapter brick.
The so-called “quad interface” design allows for interesting possibilities, like connecting the drive via eSATA interface while bus powering via FireWire. Since you get two FireWire 800 ports, you can daisy chain multiple devices or connect legacy FireWire 400 devices via the included FireWire-800-to-400 connecting cable. In addition, storage-capable digital cameras and camcorders can connect directly to the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini via FireWire or USB ports to transfer images and video clips, bypassing a computer altogether.
The Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini is 3.8-inch wide, 5.5-inch long, 1.1-inch tall, and weighs in at 0.75 pounds so it should slip easily inside your briefcase. The drive is enclosed in an aircraft-grade brushed aluminum casing that’s impact resistant and heat dissipating. It looks great and certainly oozes style when placed next to your Mac system. Its high capacity, speedy performance, small footprint, and affordable price make the Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini the perfect choice for portable backup, field editing, and for consumers who need to carry their entire media libraries wherever they go. OWC claims that the 1TB model holds up to a million JPEG photos, 500 DVD movies, 76 hours of digital video, or 350,000 songs.
All models are compatible with Windows 98SE or later and Mac OS 8.6 and later, including Snow Leopard and Mac OS X’s Time Machine backup software. The box includes all supported interface connecting cables, a disk utility software bundle (a $200 retail value), and a three year warranty. Woodstock, Illinois-based Other World Computing is offering the new 1TB model for $299.99 from its web store. In addition to the flagship model, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini is offered in nine other “quad interface” flavors available in 5200/5400rpm and 7200rpm models and covering a variety of speed, capacity, and drive type options:
5200/5400RPM
- 250GB ($119.99) – 5400rpm, 8MB cache, FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
- 320GB ($129.99) – 5400rpm, 8MB cache, FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
- 500GB ($154.99) – 5400rpm, 8MB cache, FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
- 640GB ($189.00) – 5400rpm, 8MB cache, FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
- 1.0TB ($299.99) – 5200rpm, 8MB cache, FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
- 320GB ($144.99) – 7200rpm, 16MB cache FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
- 500GB ($189.99) – 7200rpm, 16MB cache FW800/400+USB2.0+eSATA
