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+--- Thread: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive (/showthread.php?tid=88915)
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Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - hal - 12-04-2009
You can get one of these for $105
and it comes with a 500GB drive inside
refurbed...
Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - Winston - 12-04-2009
Specs:
G-Drive Mini:
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/g-drive-mini.cfm
Interface: 2x FireWire 800, 1x USB2.0, includes all connecting cables, including FireWire 800 to 400
Disk Drives: Type – Hitachi SATA RPM – 5400 or 7200, or SSD
Cache: 8MB cache
Cooling System: Integrated heat sink
Bridge: Oxford 934 chipset
Size (LxWxH): 4.94" x 3.19" x .875"
Weight: 0.55 lbs
Warranty: 3 years
Other: Protective Carrying Case
G-DRIVE mini is formatted at the factory HFS+ with Journaling
OWC Mercury Elite AL-Pro Mini (wow, that's a mouthful)
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/EliteALmini/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
Interface: "Quad Interface" 2x FireWire 800/400, 1x USB 2.0, and 1x eSATA, includes all connecting cables, including FireWire 800 to 400 (except on bare case, not FW 800 to 400 cable)
Disk Drives: 5400, 7200 or SSD, brand not specified
Cache: 8MB (5400 RPM) to 16MB (7200 RPM)
Cooling System: not specified
Bridge: Oxford 934DSB
Size: 5.5" x 3.8" x 1.1"
Weight: 0.75 lbs bare (no mechanism)
Warranty: 3 years
Other: eSATA connection requires FireWire bus power or external power supply (not included)
Ultra-protective Shock Isolation System
Utility Software Bundle (not included on some bare cases)
- Intech® SpeedTools Utilities™ OEM (For Mac OS 8.6 - X only)
- Prosoft Engineering® Data Backup for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later
- NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows® 2000 or later
- Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) from Bombich Software
- Over 2GB of Freeware, Shareware, Public domain software installed
- W
Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - Winston - 12-04-2009
Both the G-Drive and the OWC also have on/off switches, unusually for portable drives.
The G-Drive is smaller and has cooling fins on the bottom as well as an air gap and more vent holes in the case. It has to run cooler than the OWC. It's also a lot smaller and lighter. But I bet the OWC has far better protection for the drive in the case of a drop.
Also note if anyone is shopping that there are older versions of the G-Drive around that are listed as having one FW 800 and one FW 400 port.
- W
Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - bazookaman - 12-04-2009
oooo...shiny.
Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - DRR - 12-04-2009
jdc wrote:
I semi understand its the bridge board... and although my 2.5" WD 400 gig FW800 portable drive only has one FW800 port, I only paid $99 for the whole dang thing...
and I have never cared for the clear cases either, they have had them for at least 10 years?
and fwiw, I have a few of the 3.5" AL IDE FW800 cases, the construction is stellar.
Well purely from a pricing standpoint, think about how many computers have USB 2.0 ports (all of them, for the past 5 or 6 years at least) versus how many computers have a FW800 port (maybe 1 percent of all computers sold in the same time period?)
So that means for manufacturers, FW800 is basically a niche protocol, and for many, not worth developing for. So yes, anything with a FW 800 port is going to be exponentially more expensive.
I've had a number of cheap USB cases, they come and go. They're commodity items. I don't use them for serious storage. However, I still have almost every Firewire case (400 and 800) I've ever bought.
Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - thermarest - 12-04-2009
I have clear OWC cases in 2.5" and 3.5". The 2.5 is bulkier than it needs to be and was pretty expensive, I think my bro bought it for me as a gift at $70 or $80. I don't think I'd have sprung for that.
I don't know anything about bridges but $90 for a 2.5" case seems like far too much. I bought a Rosewill case for half that. It looks pretty similar, minus the eSATA and it has worked flawlessly. It has cooling fins on the bottom is quite physically robust. That said, the super el-cheapo WD Passport USB cases work fine too. I've had 3 and no complaints. As mentioned above, for $90 you get a bonus 500GB drive.
Re: OWC introduces new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Mini portable hard drive - DRR - 12-04-2009
thermarest wrote:
I don't know anything about bridges but $90 for a 2.5" case seems like far too much. I bought a Rosewill case for half that. It looks pretty similar, minus the eSATA and it has worked flawlessly. It has cooling fins on the bottom is quite physically robust. That said, the super el-cheapo WD Passport USB cases work fine too. I've had 3 and no complaints.
You don't get FW800 - and that's the difference between cheap cases and this one.
USB 2 is inconsistent with transfer speeds and depends heavily on the host PC.
eSATA would be a good alternative but no Mac ships with eSATA. Plus I think you'd need a second cable for power.
Having said that, USB 2 is probably "good enough" for 95% of the users. The other 5% is the people who will buy this case.