I want to use OWC Mercury Pro Elite....

[audiophile65]

I currently have a MacBook Pro. I will be purchasing a Marantz Receiver (NR1402), a pair of Focal Chorus (706V) bookshelf loudspeakers, and Arcam's rDAC in January 2012 and will start to listen to music out of my MacBook Pro and all above-mentioned components in January 2012.

I want to purchase OWC's Mercury Pro Elite external hard drive -- more precisely, their 2TB USB 2.0/FW400/FW800/eSATA Quad Interface (non RAID) model -- in mid-late October (this model is about $214 from OWC).

I want to back up my 57 GB of iTunes into the OWC, as well as to add new downloads/CD rips directly into the OWC (not into the MacBook Pro's internal hard drive). Downloads will range from ripped CDs to hi-res downloads (16/44.1 to 24/192) and some (not a lot) DSD downloads (64/2.8MHz to 128/5.6MHz).

My question: I'm a newbie at this, and I just want to ask if this particular OWC model will be sufficient, and I won't necessarily need an OWC with a RAID config, right? I my also decide on a 3TB OWC for even more storage.

 

Please comment. Thanks

 

 

 

[coot]

I am a huge fan of OWC products. I have a the model you mention plus 6 of their 2.5" models - both aluminum and plastic case models. The latter are MUCH quieter ie, no fans. The plastic ones are even quieter than the metal. There is no way I would want 3.5" with fans in aluminum case in the listening area. Hope this helps.

 

[Russ]

Is the plastic model noticeably quieter than the aluminum one from several feet away?

 

[coot]

From 'several' feet, ie. 5 ft on you won't notice a difference. Just be sure to get the 5400rpm as it is quite a bit quieter than 7200 and speed is not an issue for playing its music files.

 

[RankStranger]

are also fanless.

 

RS

 

[jacquesr]

Hi,

I have a 750MB (7200rpm) and I can hear it from my listening chair. It sounds like soft sandpaper.

 

Thinking there might be a problem with it, I ordered a second one - same thing.

 

Now I checked the specs of the 5400 and 7200 rpm versions:

 

7200 - Hitachi

Idle (Typical)2.5 db

Seek (Typical)2.7 db

 

5400 samsung Spinpoint

Idle (Typical)2.4 db

Seek (Typical)2.6 db

 

Seems pretty minimal difference to me.

 

Might have to put the think in a sound proof box....

 

[e seal]

I'm a big fan of the OWC's Mercury Elite-AL Pro (a fanless design into which you install the HDD of your choice). I really like the quality, all-aluminum housing of this external drive as well as the interface options -- Firewire 400, Firewire 800, USB 2.0, and eSATA (which I use most of the time). I have equipped mine with Samsung F4 HD204UI 2TB drives. These drives run at 5400 rpm and are inaudible from more than two feet away when they are in the Mercury Elite-AL Pro case. You will hear the drives spin up to speed, but they become extremely quiet at full speed.

 

I've had these external drives for only a few months, so I can't comment on long-term reliability, but I've had no trouble with them in the time I've owned them. Currently, I use two; one for storing files for everyday listening, and the other for back up.

 

As you might expect, the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pros come configured for use with Macs, but OWC provides on-line instructions for reconfiguring them for use with PC's. A word of caution if you are going to reconfigure them for PC use: Just before formatting, the OWC instructions fail to mention that you must configure you new drive as a "basic" drive not a "dynamic" drive. On the screen which shows the type of drive, click on the word "dynamic" and the option to configure as "basic" will appear. If you configure your new external drive as "dynamic," you won't be able to use some of the interface options.

 

I would be interested to learn if any other CA's are using this set-up for data storage, and what your experience has been.

 

[DJ Jaz]

I've been using 2 OWC Mercury Pro Elites for a couple of years. Wouldn't buy anything else.

[Superdad]

I too have enjoyed OWC drives for many years, though I have had the internal interface fail on two units. Both times the power supply regulators started putting out more than double the voltage that drives run on, and they fried the drive electronics (though I did discover how to send off the Seagate drive board for cloning and managed to get the drives and their precious data back!).

 

Since then I have been buying Mercury Elite-AL Pros with drives already in them because if I recall OWC offers a longer warranty that way (or at least they take responsibility for the whole unit).

 

And yes, the current, fanless, aluminum ones are just about as quiet as the old plastic chassis--at least if you rest them on carpeting. On a desk, they will resonate the desk. The one that I have on my desk I put on an old sorbothane foot.

[ed71]

I just bought my first OWC Mercury Elite Pro, and I have been somewhat surprised by how loud it is. I need to move it a bit father from my seating position and put something under it to get it off the desk. Hopefully that will help.

[scraps@midnight]

I have 2, both the quad interface 0gb enclosures. I've used them with 2, 3 and 4TB drives. Agree that they are well built, solid performers but not the quietest. I recently bought a Zuma CAPS3 and the these enclosures will not work via eSATA. There is some compatibility issue with the Intel Motherboard and these enclosures. I switched to Icydock and would certainly recommend them. Actually much quieter, cheaper, USB 3.0 and eSATA so no firewire which is actually good for me.

 

I'm a little upset with OWC, they really were not much help when trying to address the issue. Now I have 2 sitting around, spares I guess! Another $200 tossed away in this hobby...sigh:)