Oyen Data Tale or OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro

[Fishkat]

Curious if others have any experience with these external hard drives they would share.

 

My plan is to keep it simple, using one external as a main storage drive and another as a backup. Either the Oyen DataTale 3.5" 2TB or the OWC Mercury Elite Pro-AL Pro 2TB.

 

Right now i'm leaning toward the OWC because they have a metal case and use the Oxford chip.

 

Would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

 

Thanks

 

[bixby]

I use two OWC enclosures with my Samsung Spinpont drives 1TB. One is always attached to my Mac and is normally on. No problems in the past year or so. The other is my backup and used when new files are backed up about once a month or so.

 

Not sure what drives OWC uses in their premade solutions, and not sure of how quiet they are but they are priced very well.

 

I like the OWC because they are reasonably priced, work like they should, metal for great heat dissipation and have no fan, hence quiet.

 

Your approach is like mine. Raid is a pain because of cost, time to rebuild, and if the main controller dies you are sunk. This way one drive can be easily substituted for the main drive and the replacement can now become the backup. And you can keep it offsite for even more disaster tolerance.

 

[Fishkat]

Thanks bixby, this is my first stab at digital. I've been sitting on the sidelines, reading, researching, and changing my mind. Was very close to going with a NAS but recently decided things are complicated enough, keep it simple.

 

The 2TB OWC is using a Hitachi Deckstar 7k3000, I have no idea if that is a good hardrive or not but assume it is and it carries the same 3 year warranty as the enclosure.

 

You mentioned you used Samsung Spinpoints, any particular reason why?

 

Do you or others have opinions on the Hitachi drive that comes in the pre-packaged setup i'm looking at, is there other more dependable and quiter drives to look at because i could always just buy the enclosure.

 

Again thanks for your reply, its appreciated.

 

[bixby]

This was the review that helped with my decision. Speed is not so much a concern with my setup but noise is. The Spinpoint was in the top tier concerning noise. Also won Editors Choice FWIW.

 

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14200

 

Search around on this site and you will find a review of the Deskstar 3TB drive (I found no 2TB deskstar with the 3000 in the model.

 

Also at least when they compared a 3TB Spinpoint with the 3TB Deskstar the Spinpoint was 6-7db quieter.

 

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20562/9

 

So you probably could get a 2TB Spinpoint and enclosure for about $10-15 more than the deskstar.

 

[Fishkat]

Haven't considered noise but now that it is on the radar screen I will, thanks again.

 

Appreciate the link on the Samsung drive and will check it out.

 

Since I'm going to consider the external harddrive part of my audio system, it would be foolish to cheap out on drives when you have thousands of dollars invested on the audio side.

 

By the way, the Deckstar 7K3000 comes 3TB, 2TB and 1.5TB. Here is a link if interested: http://www.hitachigst.com/internal-drives/desktop/deskstar/deskstar-7k3000

 

Again, thanks for your help.

 

[dmccombs]

FishKat,

 

Double check that the DataTale is using the Oxford chipset. Very recently, the DataTales switched over to the Jmicron chipset.

 

 

[Fishkat]

You are correct Darrell, and thanks for your input.

 

I'm a novice on the digital movement but have been doing quite a bit of research. The DataTale or at least the one I was looking at does not contain the Oxford chip, however the OWC Elite - Al Pro does.

 

At this point, based on what I have read, the Oxford chip is highly regarded by the computer audio world. I don't know if it is any better than the Jmicron chip or completly understand what the difference is, but for now plan to go with the enclosure containing the Oxford chip.

 

This adventure certainly isn't plug and play but I guess if you put in the effort you get an education and maybe storage and access to your audio library from a little box.

 

Appreciate your input as well as this great website.

 

 

 

[jtwrace]

I have the OWC and it has a fan and it's pretty loud. I use that drive as my secure backup so it doesn't make a difference to me as I just wanted the Oxford chip in a reliable enclosure.

 

[bixby]

Not sure what OWC enclosure you have but the Elite USB /FW does not have a fan, nor does the esata model.

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW934FWU2K/

 

Also just to see for yourself here is the installation video, no fan that I can see?

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/enc_owc_elite_al_single_hd_m/

 

[jtwrace]

Yes, no fan but the drive is noisy. I own one and it's much noisier then my iOmega MiniMax

 

[Fishkat]

Like I said digital audio and all that goes with it is new to me but jtwrace, your comment confuses me a little.

 

I didn't realize that the enclosure had any type motor that spun the hard drive. I was thinking the hard drive spun itself. So is it the enclosure is noisy or is it the hard drive, please explain. Also would you share what type drive you use in the OWC?

 

Like I said, I have a lot to learn.

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

[bixby]

@Fishkat Perhaps he meant the drive he installed in his OWC is noisy or the drive that came with his owc is noisy, we don't even know what external drive enclosure he is referring to?

 

And to see how easy it is to put a relatively quiet drive like the Samsung or others into the enclosure look at the video in the link in my last message.

 

And remember, the tests that I also linked did note that the hitachi drive tested had 6db or more noise than the samsung. Now whether this is significant or not might depend on what type music you listen to and where the drive is.

 

If you listen to high dynamic range classical then it might be noticeable when using a program like itunes that streams constantly form the drive. It may not be noticeable when you use a memory play type player. Also thing about where the drive will sit in relation to your listening position. A drive 7-10 feet away over by your speakers will not be noticeable when playing most music at a reasonable volume. But the same drive near you while playing music softly may be.

 

As for what is causing the noise, it is just the drive in the case of a fanless enclosure, no other turning bits are inside the box.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[jtwrace]

I have this drive http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEAQ7S15TB32/ and it's noisier then my iOmega MiniMax. They're (OWC) NOT silent.

 

[Fishkat]

Thanks jtwrace.

 

It's the same OWC enclosure I'm about to order but the 1.5TB drive you have in it is a Seagate Barracuda.

 

Here is a link that was found within the link you offered earlier.

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/Descriptions/se3st31500341as.html

 

Again, thanks to all for their recommendations.