Other World Computing announced today two new enclosure solutions for utilizing the factory Flash SSD from any 2010 or 2011 Apple MacBook Air model as an external drive. Both the OWC Mercury On-The-Go and OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini enclosure solutions provide MacBook Air owners continued external use of the factory drive plus a convenient method of data migration when upgrading to the higher capacity and higher performance of an OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD.
Choice Of Two Bus Powered Enclosures
Super quiet, fanless, and pocket-sized, the On-The-Go’s clear acrylic case offers a USB 3.0/2.0 interface for fully utilizing the MacBook Air SSD’s 200MB/s speed capability. The enclosure is priced at $35 when purchased with a Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD and $69.99 for the enclosure solution only.
Super quiet, fanless, and lightweight, the Elite Pro mini’s brushed aluminum case looks great on the desktop while offering a variety of high speed interfaces for Mac and PC connection flexibility. The enclosure is priced at $70 when purchased with a Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD and $109.99 for the enclosure solution only.
Two Step, Less Than Two Minute Installation
- Plug the factory SSD module into the special SATA adapter already installed in the OWC Enclosure Solution.
- Attach the other end of the factory SSD module to the mounting stanchion secured to the OWC enclosure’s drive bay.
“We’re thrilled to offer 2010 and 2011 MacBook Air owners the only complete drive upgrade solution available,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “Our Mercury Aura Pro Express SSDs offer higher performance and storage capacity over the factory drive. Then, by adding one of these new enclosure solutions, MacBook Air owners can turn the factory SSD into a new high performance external drive for a two-in-one upgrade.”
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Special SATA adapter works without the enclosure.
I put MBA SSD into imac and netbook.
Works well!!!
Can’t wait for a Thunderbolt enclosure!
Me too.
I only need special SATA adapter to put my ssd in my iMac.
These crystal enclosures are somewhat spacious vertically… Do you plan on having a SSD read-write cache using the same case format? So that I could put in a 1TB HDD and a 60GB Aura , and have the Aura accelerate the file operations on the HDD? Much like the seagate Momentus XT (although the Momentus only speeds up reading)?
An interesting idea certainly! Not sure on the feasibility of supporting two separate drives as one entity in the enclosure though.
Yeah, that would probably need a controller which would abstract everything away and present a plain drive to the host.
OCZ has those revodrive cards, but they are PCI-Express. It would be awesome to put it in an enclosure though.
The older brother to this idea would be a RAID for 2.5 disks with the same kind of SSD speedup technology, in the size and shape of a mac mini, great for stacking/side-by-side placement.
For the record, I would be more likely to buy both SSD upgrade and enclosure if the results weren’t hobbled by USB 2 on my Air. Thunderbolt may be greater in theory, but USB 3 is more than I need. Just don’t have it….
Sorry to be negative but you guys should get new enclosures. I can’t abide the giant-even-for-a-2.5-inch-HDD enclosures, and you’re asking me to put a tiny couple of memory sticks inside a big, ugly enclosure. Be nice to have some new options instead.
Totally agree. The Crystal and the Metal enclosures are somehow too huge for housing a 2.5′ HDD/SSD. Especially when putting in a MBA SSD flash chip. These enclosures are even thicker than size of our wallet. I think it is time to re-engineer the enclosure to become more streamliner. Because the MBA did it and got evolve. So the enclosures should also match for it.
The current enclosure models are just too thick and wide for now. They need a redesign. \\
Looking forward to this.
These enclosure solutions are truly just interim/stepping stones for a most custom solution in the future. The connector was quite a process to design for all intended purposes and is very custom itself. We actually offer these externals with the custom MBA SSD adapter heavily discounted to support this solution that has been long awaited in terms of easing the process or data migration and even an option for continued use of the original drives from the MBA. We know it isn’t the 100% ideal solution, but it is a solid and reliable option for the interim. Thanks!
I think USB3.0 or eSATA do not work for MBA in any senses. It has no such USB 3.0/eSATA interfaces available to draw the desire speed. This laptop is built for Thunderbolt as a selling point. If you think it is a immature technology. Then learn from Apple. Making it as a firmware updatable device. That will do.
Please release the TB 2.5/SSD enclosure on next month. TB is the only solution that we need for MBA.
Thunderbolt enclosures are slated for 2012. In the meantime these solutions offer usability of the removed storage from your MBA where previously the original drive was unusable.
Can you offer the “special SATA adapter” on it’s own for those who would like to attach one of these directly to a SATA port instead of to a USB port?
The Mercury Elite Pro mini solution does offer an eSATA port for connection via SATA.
Are you guys still planning on releasing a DIY kit to upgrade the hard drives in the new iMacs? I know, I know, you can’t comment… I wouldn’t even ask except you announced you’d be selling them when you started the turnkey program for the iMacs.
Also, what are you concerns now that SandForce has been sold? Are you considering your own controller?
Hey Whoda…we’ve missed you! We’d like to release even more products than what feels like 1-2 a week here these days! ;-) So, yes, still a plan…but uncertain as to when.
No concerns about SF being bought by LSI. A truism for the tech industry….the only constant is change. There’s a Grantism for you!
Still waiting on the Thunderbolt enclosure. When can we except it ?? When that comes out I will order the Pro Express SSD.
TB out from us in 2012…but why wait? Get an enclosure now so you can continue using that factory SSD module externally. Then, when TB out, just use that enclosure for an HD and put the Apple factory SSD into TB enclosure.
keep in mind though….we’ll have to determine market need for such…seeing as though we ARE the only SSD and now enclosure kit provider for MBA… ;-)
With a promise like that from Grant, I hope the first TB product from OWC is a TB to FW800&USB hub. :-)
Hey MacRat! We’ve said all along we’d be deep in Thunderbolt in 2012….but hey…never said exactly when ;-) Like our SSDs, we didn’t rush, but when we entered, we turned the playing field upside down…
Just looking at how Apple’s released yet another Thunderbolt software update it’s pretty clear that it’s not a mature technology yet and waiting for it to mature some more is a wise move.
Ah…thanks Matthew….finally someone that reads between our lines so to speak on why we’re waiting… ;-)
I’d happily still pay for “beta” thunderbolt hardware.