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The Right Adapter for the Job.

Thursday, May 17th, 2012 | Author: OWC Jarrod

Sometimes we forget about the basics in life like flossing, ejecting our USB devices before removing them, or calling Mom on Mother’s Day (this one hurts most – trust us). The same can be said when choosing an external desktop drive. The power supply is an often-overlooked component when making your decision – but it’s one that OWC doesn’t take lightly.

At OWC, we’re always trying to bring more power to you. And one way we do that is by making sure the external storage solution you buy from us has a power adapter that can give you more than enough power to make your device run. This works twofold: not only will your drives be sure to have enough power for typical use, but there is also plenty of headroom to ensure the power adapter isn’t overtaxed during heavy usage times.

It’s kind of like a pulling a water skier; both an 85hp engine and a 150hp engine can pull a skier out of the water, but to do it, the 85hp engine has to work at it’s full capacity, while that 150hp engine isn’t anywhere near red-lining. As a result, the 150hp engine has a less chance of overheating. It’s the same thing with the adapters; while they both run fine for normal operation (while the skier is skiing) the energy required to spin up the drive (pull the skier out of the water) is much higher for the lower-powered adapter (85hp engine); it has to work at or very close to its maximum output, which can result in overheating. Our adapters (150hp engine) have a higher maximum output, so using the same amount of energy taxes the adapter less, resulting in lower heat levels in your adapter, which is a major contributor to failures, and ensures that nothing in your device “gives.” Article Continues…

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Category: Product Spotlight
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NewerTech Announces NuStand mini XL Acrylic Riser for Mac mini

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Newer Technology, Inc. announced today the NuStand™ mini XL riser. The solid, single-piece acrylic riser safely elevates a display over a Mac mini or levels the height of a smaller, secondary monitor connected to a 27″ iMac.

Save Space While Elevating Display Over mini

The NuStand mini XL’s 3.5″ clearance raises a LCD (up to 30″) or CRT (up to 22″) over a Mac mini to an ergonomically proper viewing height. Its open-design offers easy access to all ports and if applicable, the mini’s optical drive slot.

Great For iMac Too

Although the NuStand mini XL is designed for the Mac mini, it offers a display solution for 27″ iMac owners wanting to use a smaller, secondary monitor.  In addition to leveling the height between displays, the NuStand mini XL also provides the ideal location for an Apple Wireless Keyboard, an external hard drive solution, and  other low-profile devices.

NuStand mini XL Features

  • Enables placement of Mac mini with Airport Extreme or Time Capsule, Apple’s Wireless Keyboard and other low-profile devices below a monitor or all-in-one computer like the iMac.
  • Raises display to an ergonomic viewing height
  • Saves valuable desktop space
  • Solid, single-piece acrylic construction
  • No ports or cooling vents are obstructed
  • No Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signal loss

Price, Availability

The Newer Technology NuStand mini XL is available immediately for $49.95 MSRP from NewerTech’s exclusive distributor, Other World Computing (OWC®), and through the retail channel. For more information on the NuStand mini XL and reseller inquiries, visit: http://www.newertech.com/products/nustandxl.php. For more information on NewerTech’s complete line of accessories and upgrades for Macs, PCs, and iOS devices, visit: http://www.newertech.com/products.

 

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Category: Press Releases
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Incompatible or just inconvenient?

Thursday, August 19th, 2010 | Author: OWC Grant
Putting out the "fire in a crowded theater"

Puttin' out the "fire in a crowded theater."

There’s nothing quite like a juicy Apple related headline to get the masses going all atwitter…yes the word definition, not the app! The latest case of perhaps blowing  a minor inconvenience out of proportion and getting Mac users unduly concerned was a forum posting claiming the 2010 Mac Pros are “incompatible” with some external hard drives, specifically “quad interface” models with Oxford 934 chipsets.

The fact that puts out the “fire” alarm on the world’s stage “crowded theater” is that the Mid-2010 Mac Pros will work with drives containing this chipset. The only small “concession” that users will need to make, at this time, is that they will need wait to turn on their external drives until a few seconds after booting. Of course, it’s practically a certainty we’ll soon be seeing a firmware update to address this very minor inconvenience, be it from Apple for the Mac Pro or from Oxford for their bridge chipset.

It just goes to show that the old adage could be revised to “where there’s smoke, you should look through it to see there’s no fire.” Or, perhaps, turn to the OWC blog to get the straight facts. They may be boring…but at least we don’t get you running for the exits. ;-)

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UPDATE 7:09 PM Well, we couldn’t leave enough alone…we’ve tested every one of our Oxford 934 based solutions and none of them exhibit any operating issues with the new Mac Pro. If Globeman could talk, he might be saying, “move along, nothing to see…keep moving.”

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Category: Random Thoughts & Topics
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How do you fit over 45,000 full-quality photos in your shirt pocket?

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 | Author: OWC Chris S.

As you may have guessed, I’m a big fan of relocating large portions of Mac OS X when it makes things more efficient. I’ve relocated my home folder on a number of computers, and my iTunes library is on a portable drive that I take back and forth between home and work.

Well, I’m at it again. This time around, I’m going to talk about moving your iPhoto library.

Let’s face it, as cameras sport more and more megapixels worth of capture, the file sizes get larger and larger. If you’re shooting in RAW mode, add a couple orders of magnitude to the size. I shoot almost exclusively in RAW, and my average picture size comes to about 10MB per photo.

It kind of goes without saying, the more pictures you take, the more space they take up. If you’re a photo bug, like my father, and you use iPhoto to organize your pictures, like he does, you’ll soon find that your hard drive will quickly fill up – like his did.

Fortunately, we recently upgraded him to iLife ‘09. iPhoto ‘09 has a feature similar to one in iTunes: if you hold down the Option key at startup, you can select the iPhoto library you want to work from.

Process for moving the library is simple: just drag the “iPhoto Library” file from your Pictures folder to the new drive. Then, hold down the Option key as you launch iPhoto ‘09. You will get a dialog box that shows all the available iPhoto libraries. Simply select the one on the external drive, and you’re good to go.

I set my dad up with this arrangement. Now, he keeps his On-The-Go Pro in his camera bag, and when he’s done taking pictures for the day, he hooks it up to his Macbook, opens iPhoto, and he’s good to go.

The best part is that when (not if, when) he fills up that hard drive, all he has to do is buy another drive and create a new library on that one.

Infinitely expandable, portable photo storage at a reasonable price. You’ve got to like that…

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Category: Tech Tips
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