OWC Announces Mercury On-The-Go Pro Portable Storage Solution

[btarunr]

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading PC and Mac technology company, announced today the OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro, the largest capacity, fastest bus powered portable storage solution on the market. The Mercury On-The-Go Pro is a high-performance, 500GB 7200RPM pocket-sized portable storage solution for Mac or PC users featuring FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and/or USB 2.0 interfaces for data transfer speeds up to 100MB/s. With its 500GB of storage capacity, the Mercury On-The-Go Pro can hold up to 500,000 JPEG photos, 250 DVD movies, 38 hours of digital video, or 175,000 MP3 songs.

The Mercury On-The-Go Pro 500GB 7200RPM line features three models, including a “Triple Interface” model for FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0; a “Combo Interface” model for FireWire 400 and USB 2.0; and a USB 2.0 model priced starting at $189.99.



Pocket-Sized & Bus Powered – Ideal For The Mobile Office

Designed for the active “On-The-Go” computer user that needs the largest and fastest portable storage solution available on the market, the OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro is compact at 3.5"x 5.5"x 1" in size -- small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, yet big enough to offer 500GB of capacity. Stylishly engineered in a sleek, acrylic enclosure, the Mercury On-The-Go Pro is bus-powered, so it doesn’t require an AC adapter, which makes it ideal for presentations, multimedia, law enforcement, surveyors, and other “mobile office” uses. Additionally, notebook users with internal 5400RPM drives will find that using the OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro as a start-up disk offers faster system boot-up and overall system performance.

Works With Macs, PCs, and Digital Devices

Featuring a variety of FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces, the Plug-and-Play ready Mercury On-The-Go Pro can be used with Macs and PCs for additional storage capacity, transporting large files between multiple computers and real-time A/V editing. The drive can also be used with storage capable digital cameras and camcorders with FireWire and/or USB data ports for quick, convenient backups of images and video while on the road.

“Since we launched the first Mercury On-The-Go Pro in 2001, this pocket-sized powerhouse has established numerous industry innovations in portable storage,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO, Other World Computing. “As the first 500GB 7200RPM portable drive on the market, the Mercury On-The-Go Pro continues to deliver best in class portable performance and convenience.”

OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro 500GB 7200RPM Pricing:

• OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro “Triple Interface” FireWire 800/400 + USB 2.0: $239.99
  Features Oxford 934 chipset, two FireWire 800 ports, USB 2.0 Mini-B port, FireWire 800/FireWire 800 to 400 and USB 2.0 connecting cables, carrying case, $200 retail value disk utility bundle, and a three year warranty.
  
• OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro “Combo Interface” FireWire 400 + USB 2.0: $219.99
  Features Oxford 934 chipset, FireWire 400 port, USB 2.0 Mini-B port, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 connecting cables, carrying case, $200 retail value disk utility bundle, and a three year warranty.
  
• OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro USB 2.0: $189.99
  Features JMicron 20339 chipset, USB 2.0 Mini-B port, USB 2.0 Mini-B connecting cable, carrying case, $200 retail value disk utility bundle, and a three year warranty.

The three new OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro 500GB 7200RPM models are available immediately from Other World Computing at www.macsales.com. They are compatible with Apple OS 8.6 to 9.2.2, OS X 10.0.x, and 10.2.8 or later; and Windows 98SE or later operating systems and come ready for Plug and Play ease of use with all supported interface connecting cables, carrying case, $200 retail value disk utility software bundle, and an industry leading three year complete solution warranty.

In addition to the new 500GB 7200RPM Mercury On-The-Go Pro drives, OWC also offers a full line of 5400RPM Mercury On-The-Go Pro models with FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and/or USB 2.0 interfaces in capacities of 80GB-500GB, priced starting at $72.99; and 7200RPM models in capacities of 250GB and 320GB priced starting at $89.99.

Mercury On-The-Go Pro Specs:

• Fully suitable for Audio/Video applications.
• Oxford or JMicron bridge chipset.
• 2.5" Serial ATA (SATA) 500GB 7200RPM hard drive.
• 16MB hard drive data cache.
• Data transfer speeds up to 100MB/s.
• Cool blue activity LED.
• Super quiet fanless operation.
• Compact size: 3.5"(W) x 5.5"(D) x 1"(H).
• Lightweight: 11 ounces empty case, 2.5 lbs with drive.
• Clear, shock resistant polycarbonate acrylic case.
• Industry leading warranty: Three years complete solution.
• Carrying case.
• All interface connection cables.
• Mac and PC compatible.
• Includes $200 retail value disk utility software bundle: Carbon Copy Cloner, ProSoft Engineering Data Backup 3, NovaStor NovaBACKUP, and Intech SpeedTools Utilities.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Nice to see firewire+USB combos, hopefully they keep firewire around as much as possible, its so much better than USB....

[timta2]

I absolutely love these cases appearance wise but don't understand why they don't have a 3.5 inch drive version. If they did I would have bought several of them already. Most of the 3.5 inch cases that OWC carries look horrible. Oh well.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Originally Posted by timta2

I absolutely love these cases appearance wise but don't understand why they don't have a 3.5 inch drive version. If they did I would have bought several of them already. Most of the 3.5 inch cases that OWC carries look horrible. Oh well.

Laptop drives can be fully powered via USB, and are much more compact.

I have a Maxtor OneTouch 160gb, uses a nice little laptop drive, with a single USB cord.

It+enclosure+ my carrying case is smaller than a desktop drive.

[KainXS]

wow no esata

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by KainXS

wow no esata

they're aimed at macs, hence firewire 800

[Wile E]

They should have given it FW800, USB and eSATA. Putting FW400 on it is a bit redundant, as they could just package an 800-400 adapter, thus clearing the space for the eSATA port.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Wile E

They should have given it FW800, USB and eSATA. Putting FW400 on it is a bit redundant, as they could just package an 800-400 adapter, thus clearing the space for the eSATA port.

can you even do that? i thought they were incompatible?

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by Mussels

can you even do that? i thought they were incompatible?

Yeah, I used to have a few FW800 to FW400 converters around. Perfectly compatible. FW800 ports use the same signal wires as FW400 port, with a few additional added for the extra throughput. If you don't use those additional wires, it operates as a FW400 port, just with a larger connector.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Originally Posted by Mussels

they're aimed at macs, hence firewire 800

My desktop has a firewire port iirc, but no eSata

[Hayder_Master]

im only like the design , nice look

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

My desktop has a firewire port iirc, but no eSata

firewire 800? i bet its only got 400

[Dippyskoodlez]

Originally Posted by Mussels

firewire 800? i bet its only got 400

Yeah it has the D looking 400 port..

My laptop has both still though. 400 and 800.

400 is still so much faster than USB its not even funny >.>

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Dippyskoodlez

Yeah it has the D looking 400 port..

My laptop has both still though. 400 and 800.

400 is still so much faster than USB its not even funny >.>

yeah i know, USB 2.0 was slow a long, long time ago. 30MB/s is bearable for most of its uses, but the latency and CPU usage is :S for many applications.

We'll just have to see how good USB 3.0 is, when it finally comes out.