Other World Computing announced today the addition of its lowest-cost- of-entry Solid-State Drive to its award-winning SSD line. The new OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G SSD combines award-winning SandForce technologies and Tier 1/Grade A NAND to deliver data rates over 275MB/s in a noiseless, more reliable form factor over conventional magnetic hard disk drives. Designed and manufactured in the U.S. with imported parts, the new OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G 30GB SSD’s $67.99 MSRP makes it one of the lowest-priced, high-performance SSDs on the market.
Maximizes Any Computer’s 3G Data Bus
Consumers using a Mac or PC equipped with the Serial ATA data bus will find the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G 30GB is able to deliver near bus saturating speed. Independent tests have confirmed the OWC Mercury EXTREME 3G SSDs deliver sustained data rates over 275MB/s and provide significant benefits in overall system responsiveness and sustained workflow.
No Slow Down With Repeated Use
While ordinary SSDs initially offer fast read/write performance; they experience significant write speed degradation over repeated usage. Independent simulation tests conducted by leading drive performance experts like MacPerformanceGuide confirm OWC Mercury SSD’s ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling technologies are able to eliminate virtually any reduction in data transfer speeds over heavy, long-term usage without dependency on less-than-effective OS TRIM management.
Up To 100x Greater Data Protection
By utilizing SandForce DuraClass technology along with no moving parts, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G provides an increase of up to 100x in data protection, compared to ordinary SSDs and leading enterprise-class hard disk drives. By combining the highest level of Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology, along with 7 percent over provisioning, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G provides RAID-like data protection and reliability without loss of transfer speed due to parity.
Risk-Free 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee
To ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and confidence, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 3G SSD comes backed by a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. If consumers are not completely satisfied with their OWC SSD for any reason, they simply need to contact OWC’s award-winning Customer Service department – which offers 24/7 Live Chat support – to request a full, hassle-free refund.
“While small in capacity, this new 30GB model offers a huge performance boost in application and OS operation,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “At its price point, you can’t beat its use as a boot and app load drive while offloading storage and backup duties to platter based drives.”
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I purchased one of these drives as I understood my Mid-2009 MacBook Pro 13-inch would not work nicely with the 6G drives. Do you know if my Mac Mini 3,1 is the same way or could I use a 6G drive on it?
Finally…my only concern with this drive having installed it in the Mid-2009 MacBook Pro 13 inch. The read speeds are amazing. Over 200 MB/s using Disk Speed Test by Black Magic.
However, write speeds are only showing up at 80 MB/s in the test. Even my 2010 Air from Apple with Apple SSD (notoriously slower) gets over 100 writing in the test. EVEN more surprising, even my iMac’s WD Black 7200 hard drive gets right at 100 in the same test.
Why is the write speed so slow on this drive on the mid-2009 Mac Book Pro? Is there anything wrong with the drive? Would any other drive write quicker?
Many thanks.
I just wanted to comment on the marketing of the SSDs. The labeling makes it difficult to know what I need. I’ve bought one already (and I LOVE it) but I’m looking at another, and I wish it were more straightforward.
When I scan the page, as web users do, I see pictures and “OWC Mercury Extreme Aura Pro Express Aura Pro Extreme MBA…” I get frustrated because I don’t care one bit about the marketing names. I think people must feel this way trying to buy a copy of Windows. Do I get the Ultimate Extreme Teacher Home Edition Pro? No, I want Lion.
Not trying to be harsh, just saying that I’d like you to make it a little easier for me to give you my $. I’ve put off the purchase because it feels like too much work to decipher (not saying it is, just that it *feels* that way to this typical web surfer.)
When I come to the SSD page, I want to know:
1. The best/fastest drive, and how all the products relate to each other. Right now it looks like they’re all very special in their own very special ways. I presume the 6G is the fastest, so what’s with the “Extreme” 3G? That clashes with what Intel’s marketing has done to my brain. And anyway, I just want to rank them and choose only one as the best for me.
2. What will fit my machine, and what I’ll need to mount it, if applicable. Something like the following, with the menu choices being different Macs, would blow me away: http://isotope.metafizzy.co/demos/filtering.html
I love your stuff, and I think you do a great job all around (videos, the blog, chat), but I think this page could be easier.
Thanks for listening
Prepare to be blown away.
If you’re looking for the SSD that is going to work with your setup, look no further than the first tab in our header: the “My OWC” tab. By using MyOWC to do a search by your Macintosh model, you can instantly find and order Hard Drives, SSDs, Memory, External Storage, Video, Software, expansion cards & other products that are compatible with your computer – and it not just for the SSDs, but all our products.
The main page for our SSDs is designed to be as clear as we can from the drive itself standpoint. The 3G or 6G in our marketing naming scheme is short for 6Gb/s or 3Gb/s as the maximum transfer rate of the drive. It was done to actually make things easier when searching. Only the latest 2011 Mac models are capable of obtaining the 6Gb/s speeds, although the “6G” drives are compatible with the previous generation machines that utilize a 2.5″ SATA drive as well. Then as you delve further down the page, the remaining options for machines that do not accept a 2.5″ SATA drive are listed, such as the MacBook Air models and machines that use an IDE/ATA drive connection.
And; if that’s not enough; our Sales, Technical Support, and Customer Service teams are at the ready to assist you in making an informed purchase via phone (800-275-4576), email or Live Chat support (linked at the top of every page).
I’ve owned two SSD drives from OWC and I can confirm that the do great support and the SSD’s they sell are fast as well as reliable. If your on the fence you should give their SSDs a try. This is no surprise I’ve been a customer for years and they have earned my trust. But you know that ;)
Now all we need is a three- or four-disk RAID 5 setup with thunderbolt. Please PLEASE tell me you have this in mind!
OWC is currently 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 do offer various 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.
Will that include some sort of PCI-express card that can enable Mac Pro users to have thunderbolt ability? I would love to have a raid-5 or raid-6 box that can use the thunderbolt port, but I’m not ready to make a purchase of a 2011/2012 Mac Pro.