It’s a funny thing about these price drops; they always seem to come in bunches. This time around is no different. First, there were the Mercury Elites. Then came the Mercury Elite Pro minis, followed by the Qx2.
Well, this time around, we’re featuring the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini. However, don’t expect the same, old-fashioned price drop. No sir-ee. We’ve got something special goin’ on here; not only are we featuring a price drop, but we’re adding new models as well.
The OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini is a portable, bus-powered FireWire 800&400, USB2, eSATA solution with up to 2.0TB of space, making it perfect for those needing convenient portability and/or small desktop footprint with capabilities not available in a single drive solution. Measuring only 6.1” x 5.6” x 1.1”, this compact workhorse utilizes the High-Performance Oxford936 chipset with user selectable RAID-0, RAID-1 or SPAN modes of operation. The high performance, interface support, and RAID mode options provide exceptional flexibility for a wide range of applications.
Key features of the OWC Mercury Elite Dual mini FireWire 800&400+USB2+eSATA Solutions include:
- Performance Oxford936 based bridge solution
- User selectable RAID-0, RAID-1, and non-RAID SPAN modes
- Two 1394B 9-pin, one 1394A 6-pin, one USB 2.0, and one eSATA interface ports
- Large data buffer up to 32MB
- Fully bootable, ideal for applications, A/V, Backup (TimeMachine, etc.), Photos, Music, etc.
- Single cable Bus-Powerable via FireWire or USB2
- Bus-Power via FireWire (or AC Adapter) for high-performance eSATA interface use
- Attractive & compact shock resistant Aluminum housing
- FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA Flex Cables ALL included!
- Prosoft DataBackup III (OS X), NovaStor NovaBackup (Windows), Carbon Copy Cloner (OS X), and Intech Speed Tools (8.6-10.6.x) included
- Fully Mac & PC compatible
- Industry leading, comprehensive 3 year solution warranty
RAID/Span mode is easy to change at any time, but for convenience, you can get them pre-configured in your desired setting.
But enough with the features, on to the prices!
- 640GB (320GB+320GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer —*NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $159.99
- 1.0TB (500GB+500GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 —$189.99
- 1.5TB (750GB+750GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $229.99 (a $20 drop)
- 2.0TB (1.0TB + 1.0TB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $279.99 (a $40 drop)
- 640GB (320GB+320GB) 7200RPM 32MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $179.99
- 1.0TB (500GB+500GB) 7200RPM 32MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $214.99
- 1.5TB (750GB+750GB) 7200RPM 32MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $269.99 (a $20 drop)
- 240GB (120GB+120GB) OWC Mercury 6G SSD *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $519.99
- 480GB (240GB+240GB) OWC Mercury 6G SSD *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $1049.99
- 960GB (480GB+480GB) OWC Mercury 6G SSD *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $1919.99
Prosoft Drive Genius 3 Bundle Offer
Purchasing Prosoft Drive Genius 3 along with an OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini (or any OWC or NewerTech external storage solution) can save you $60 off the retail price of the program. Check our Web site for more details.
Thanks all and good catch..whoo…tired eyes on Friday missed that!
I’m curious, why no thunderbolt yet? Is it too costly, technical difficulties or licensing problems?
We currently are planning to offer our own brand name Thunderbolt equipped storage solutions in early 2012. Why the extended time frame? Just like how we took our time in developing our industry leading SSDs, we don’t rush into product areas until there is more evolution of the emerging technology…so we can offer the highest levels of performance, quality, and reliability.
In the interim, we are offering third party (non-OWC) first generation Thunderbolt products for those customers that can’t wait for the improvements we will ultimately provide.
We applaud Apple for partnering with other technology providers, getting consumers excited about this latest data interface, and creating demand for Thunderbolt enabled products. The industry is in the very early stages of Thunderbolt developments and we’re excited to have the opportunity to be developing solutions with the next generation of data transfer performance.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I keep seeing these TB questions pop up on your blog answered with the same “canned” response, and while I can appreciate your desire to keep your products quality high, I don’t see how waiting until 9 months after the product is released helps. What will you be doing for that time period in order to justify the potential loss of customers? Its emerging technology, not something you still need to invent.
What is keeping you from slapping a new connector on the back of a Mercury Extreme Pro box (yes I know its infinitely more complicated than “slapping” but you get my drift) and charging me another $100 to $150? Is it physically harder to work with? More time consuming? Do you have to give Apple and Intel your first born son? The world wants to know! And we know its not just OWC, what in the world is taking so long? I think the people behind USB 3 are paying you all to drag your feet.
I’ll use the analogy of SSDs here, Whoda, to explain the scenario…we weren’t first on the market because we took our time in development and built around the best possible processor on the market….sure, early adopters got their tech fix with other brands’ SSDs….but now because of their impatience perhaps, they have a drive that wasn’t as fast as ours out of the box as well as one that will get slower over time. Not exactly cutting edge tech in my book. Same thing with TB…there WILL be second gen developments that will deliver greater performance and more of what TB is supposed to deliver…that is what OWC is all about. Not going to rush into any product or emerging technology for the quick buck…and if that costs us a handful of customers, so be it. We…and our long time customers…are in it for the long haul. Hope you join us on that road of travel too!
Well Grant, I will be on that road with you. Your products are right up my alley, but I’m addicted to OWC mainly because I respect that you guys put this blog up, let people voice their frustrations, and then quickly answer them! That is the kind of service I pay for.
As you know, I won’t always agree with you, but even when I post out of frustration, I, and I’m sure many of your customers feel the same, always respect and appreciate that there will be an answer from some one.
That being said, the 3rd generation of TB will be even faster than the 2nd….. by your logic, should we wait until then so we can have an even more superior product? (Sorry but it makes me sad to hook my USB 2 external drive up to my shiny new iMac.)
I enjoy the logic ;-) So TB Gen 2 will be like our first line of SSDs…but then TB Gen 3 COULD be like our recent 6G SSDs…and realize that the speed (pardon pun) of development in the SSD industry has been wicked fast…
Bottom line…you all trust us and why you follow us here and buy our products…you do so because we don’t steer you wrong and send you on that detour to where the road gets pretty scary. (insert dueling banjos here ;-)
So yes, a drag to be running a USB 2 drive on your new iMac….but in the interim…you could go a Voyager with FW800 and then always have a dock to access bare drives….that would be the “budget speed” move I’d make…
2.0TB (320GB+320GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $279.99 (a $40 drop)
This is the line Bill was referring to – 4th line down
Your math is a bit off with the 2.0TB (320GB+320GB). Those are awesome little enclosures!
Hi Bill….not sure where referring to…as we list as up to 2.0TB in many places cause that’s the max theoretical in RAID 0. In RAID 1, max capacity is 1.0TB. So…with the 320GB drives…you’ll either have 640GB or 320GB depending on what RAID level you choose. Make sense? And btw, thanks for the compliment…we’re pretty proud of that little powerhouse.
I see what he’s talking about. Although I didn’t notice it before I read his comment. At the bottom, where you list the prices, it mentions the 2.0TB config, but in parenthesis it says it uses (320GB+320GB). Just a typo of course.
I’ve got a separate question though. What would be the benefit of having 6G SSD’s in this enclosure? Isn’t the throughput of eSATA much smaller than what those drives would do? I’m not certain, but I think the 3G SSD’s almost maxed out the eSATA.
Hi Grant. I think what WazoooGuru is referring to is that the list above reads “2.0TB (320GB + 320GB)” where mathematics suggests that it should be “2.0TB (1.0TB + 1.0TB)”.
WazoooGuru’s referring to the line …
” 2.0TB (320GB+320GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $279.99 (a $40 drop) ”
;-)
And yes, these are fantastic enclosures but they come at a slight premium.
He’s referring to the 4th line in the list of models available:
640GB (320GB+320GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer —*NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $159.99
1.0TB (500GB+500GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 —$189.99
1.5TB (750GB+750GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $229.99 (a $20 drop)
2.0TB (320GB+320GB) 5400RPM 16MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $279.99 (a $40 drop) <<<<<<<<<<<
640GB (320GB+320GB) 7200RPM 32MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $179.99
1.0TB (500GB+500GB) 7200RPM 32MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $214.99
1.5TB (750GB+750GB) 7200RPM 32MB Buffer — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — NOW $269.99 (a $20 drop)
240GB (120GB+120GB) OWC Mercury 6G SSD *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $519.99
480GB (240GB+240GB) OWC Mercury 6G SSD *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $1049.99
960GB (480GB+480GB) OWC Mercury 6G SSD *NEW MODEL* — RAID 0 or RAID 1 — $1919.99