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June 9, 2000 – Mercury makes its appearance.

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

The original OWC Mercury FireWire Drive

Not many people are aware of it, but today is a pretty special day. On June 9, 2000, OWC introduced it’s first FireWire equippped storage solutions: the OWC Mercury and OWC Mercury Plus, which featured 5400 and 7200rpm drives, respectively.

Of course the Mercury series of drives didn’t stop there. As all good things do, it evolved and grew over time. After the Mercury and Mercury Plus came the Mercury Elite and the Mercury Elite Pro (a line that lives on as the Mercury Elite Pro Classic). Those lines saw the addition of FireWire 800 as the new high-speed connection.

Then, came the Mercury Elite-AL Pro, which were closely followed by the Mercury Elite-AL Pro RAID models. The most recent addition to the OWC Mercury family of desktop drives is, of course, the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2. All these drives not only feature FireWire and FireWire 800 interfaces, but also have USB 2.0 and eSATA ports available for wider flexibility in connecting to your computer. Article Continues…

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Category: Product Spotlight

Tags: AL, Backup, drive, Elite, eSATA, external, firewire, hard, Mercury, OWC, Plus, Pro, Qx2, RAID, storage, USB

What a Mac-loving Son gets his Mac-loving Dad

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S.

A frequent topic of my articles in the OWC Blog center around my adventures in keeping my dad’s Mac mini up and running. As we’re in the Father’s Day season, I think it’s only appropriate that I put together a list of items that would enhance his digital lifestyle. Perhaps your father might appreciate one or more of these items, as well. Of course, I don’t make nearly enough to get him everything here (we have to keep our prices low somehow), but at least it’s a good launch point for ideas, for both my Dad and maybe yours, too.

First of all, I’d have to get him a new Mac mini. While his current mini has served him well, its Core Solo processor is showing its age, especially when he’s trying to make discs and slide shows out of photos he’s taken with his digital camera. However, that’s the only processor-intensive thing he does; otherwise he uses it mostly for email, word processing and the occasional game of Bejeweled Blitz. For those purposes, the latest mini would work just fine for him. Of course, like any good son, I’d have to make sure that the computer is all tricked out, so that he can take full advantage of its capabilities. The best place to start is memory.

It’s well-known that getting memory from Apple is way too expensive in most, if not all, cases. Furthermore, not all configurations are available; from Apple, the most you can get pre-installed in the latest mini is 4.0GB. Fortunately, you can double that to 8.0GB through OWC. Plus, it’s even more economical when you consider our rebate for the original memory!

Article Continues…

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Category: Random Thoughts & Topics

Tags: drive, father's day, gifts, hard, mini, ministack, Newer, NewerTech, OWC, Photoshop, ram, SSD, Technology, video

Mercury Extreme SSD Trouncing Competition in “The Real World.”

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

While we’re not quite sure how well it’d do on an MTV reality series, Lloyd Chambers (aka diglloyd) of the Mac Performance Guide has us convinced that the OWC Mercury Extreme SSD gives you the best performance for your computer and does it for a long time.

If you’ve read through diglloyd’s testing before, you know how detailed and thorough his tests can be. This time, he’s subjecting his test drives to some “real world” stresses, including what he calls “Severe Duty.” While the aspects covered are extremely advanced and specially tuned for those who need to eke out the last bit of speed out of your Mac, the consistency and reliability of the Mercury Extreme’s performance when compared to “the other guys” is quite convincing – even for those of us who just want to launch our applications a little faster.

Check out diglloyd’s findings at Mac Performance Guide. Then, once you’ve seen how great these drives perform, pop on over to our site and pick one up. You won’t be sorry.

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Category: Product Spotlight

Tags: diglloyd, drive, extreme, hard, Mercury, OWC, Performance, solid, SSD, state

Get Drive Genius 3 Utility Suite For as Low as $39

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

You may have missed the brief mention of this when we mentioned it in last week’s announcement of On-The-Go price drops, but we’ve got some great specials on Prosoft Engineering’s Drive Genius 3.

Drive Genius 3 is built upon the same award-winning platform that earned the utility numerous industry honors including daily use by Apple at the Genius Bar as part of the ProCare Yearly Tune Up. Now running as a native 64-bit application to take advantage of Mac OS X 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”), Drive Genius 3 includes new features like DrivePulse® which monitors overall drive health and alerts on possible issues, RAID Support, and Email Notifications as well as enhanced Defrag, Repartition and Scan functions.

Drive Genius is a great program, but OWC makes it even better with our special bundle offer. Over 300 award winning OWC and NewerTech brand external storage solutions, enclosure kits, and docking stations now include the opportunity to purchase the full retail version of Drive Genius 3 for as low as $39—a savings of $60 off the retail price.

Did you just purchase Drive Genius 2? There may be a free or inexpensive upgrade in your future. To express its commitment to taking care of its customers, OWC is also providing a special discount upgrade path for customers who previously purchased Drive Genius 2.x from OWC. Any customer who purchased Drive Genius v2.x from OWC with an invoice date of 1/1/2010 or later will be provided a Free Upgrade to the latest Drive Genius v3 version. OWC customers with an invoice date of 12/31/2009 or prior will be able to upgrade to the new version for the special discount price of $39.00. All you need to do is visit our Web site to confirm your eligibility.

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Category: Product Spotlight, Special OWC Deals

Tags: disk, drive, genius, hard, ProSoft, software, special, upgrade, utility

Heads up! OWC Mercury On-The-Go prices are falling.

Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Just when you thought the deals on our OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro drive line were as good as you could get, they drop like an errant meteor.

Available in USB 2.0, FireWire 400 & USB 2.0, and FireWire 800/400 & USB 2.0 varieties, OWC Mercury On-The-Go portable solutions provide convenient, flexible storage at a competitive price. Built for performance, reliability, and durability, Mercury On-The-Go models have been recognized with top reviews and include ‘Very Good’, ‘Gear of the Year’, and Editor’s Choice award bestowments.

OWC Mercury On-the-Go Solutions require no external power; they reliably bus power via a single port – No Y-Cables or dual ports required! All of our solutions utilize the best qualified hard drive mechanisms for optimum performance and reliability. The On-The-Go’s shock absorbing design further protects the drive and your valuable data from external forces.

Other great features:

All connecting cables included
Bootable via all interfaces
Oxford chipsets (models with FireWire only)
Carrying Case Included
Intech Hard Disk Speed Tools suite, Carbon Copy Cloner included
Full retail versions of Prosoft DataBackup III for OS X(a $59.95 retail value) and NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows (a $49.95 retail value).
Industry Leading 3 Year OWC Warranty

Right out of the gate, these storage solutions are among the best values out there. With our great new prices, that value gets even better! Article Continues…

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Category: Press Releases, Product Spotlight

Tags: drive, drop, firewire, hard, Mercury, On-The-Go, OTG, OWC, portable, price, reduction, special, USB

New Video Updates: Mirror Drive Door G4s

Monday, April 5th, 2010 | Author: OWC Chris S.

It’s been a while, but the new OWC Video Team has released its revamped series of Installation Videos for the Power Macintosh G4 (Mirror Drive Door) & Power Macintosh (FireWire 800) models.

Though about 7 years old, the high level of expandability on these G4 Macs still make them great workhorses. I had a FireWire 800 model under my desk for several years, performing a myriad of tasks, ranging from processing Folding@home work units to duplicating CDs and DVDs to burning labels on said discs with Lightscribe.

Since they’re Power PC Macs, they can only run up to 10.5.8, but that’s all you really need for most jobs. If you can find one inexpensively, it makes a great “storage” or “workhorse” computer.

That’s why we’re glad to show you all the different options for getting these machines tricked out to their maximum potential. All you have to do is hit us up on our YouTube channel, visit our Tech Center, or even look us up on iTunes.

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Category: Installation Videos

Tags: airPort, battery, cd, Door, drive, dvd, G4, hard, hdd, Mac, Macintosh, MDD, memory, mirror, optical, PCI, Power, ram, SuperDrive, video

OWC and DIGLLOYD offer ultra-high-performance Photo Workstations

Thursday, April 1st, 2010 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

DIGLLOYD MacPerformanceGuide.com, a leading resource on Mac configuration and performance optimization, and hardware vendor Other World Computing are pleased to announce a new computer upgrade service, the MPG Photo Workstation™.

This service, provided through MacPerformanceGuide.com, reconfigures a stock Mac Pro and delivers a ready-to-use workstation with enhanced performance and reliability features, with high-quality upgrades from Other World Computing. Customers can reconfigure an existing computer they already have, or arrange for a new one to be upgraded (the Apple Mac Pro is the only system supported initially, others to follow). The MPG Photo Workstation targets Photoshop and Lightroom users, professional photographers, graphic designers, and audio/video producers, but is suitable for anyone with high performance and reliability requirements.

Not only are these systems specified for top performance, but, in perhaps an industry first, each system ships only after a rigorous 8-hour burn-in test to insure optimum performance before the customer gets the equipment.

“The MPG Photo Workstation concept embodies the recommendations for enhanced productivity that we’ve been making for years at Mac Performance Guide, but instead of having to figure out how to assemble and configure one of these Macs on your own, set up RAID, etc., now OWC’s turnkey service just gets the job done,” explains MacPerformanceGuide author and researcher Lloyd Chambers. “My consulting clients have been asking for this service for a long time, and I’m delighted to see OWC make this cost-effective service available!” Article Continues…

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Category: Benchmarking/Performance, New @ OWC, Press Releases, Product Spotlight, Special OWC Deals

Tags: A/V, Adobe, Apple, audio, bigger, design, diglloyd, drive, eSATA, faster, graphic, hard, harddrive, hdd, layout, Lightroom, Mac Pro, memory, more, movies, Other World Computing, OWC, Performance, photograph, photographer, Photoshop, RAID, ram, upgrade, video

OWC Offers Free Shipping & Top 10 “Black Friday/Cyber Monday” Gift Giving Ideas

Thursday, November 19th, 2009 | Author: OWC NewsFeed

Other World Computing announced today it has begun offering free shipping on all orders over $150 from its on-line catalog of over 2,500 products and a Top 10 Gift Giving Ideas list with “stocking stuffer” suggestions starting at $3.99 to help consumers make tech/gadget gift giving easier and more economical heading into the upcoming “Black Friday/Cyber Monday” holiday shopping kickoff dates.

“With value and frugality being key objectives of shoppers this year, we wanted to make sure OWC offered the right products and services to make us the easiest, one-stop choice for Mac, PC, iPod, and iPhone products” said Other World Computing Brand Manager Grant Dahlke. “We’ve also extended our operation hours so qualifying orders can ship same day when placed as late as 10:30pm as well as permanently extending our Live Chat support to a full 24/7 service level.”

OWC Top Gift & Stocking Stuffer ideas include:

• Kensington Pocket-Link 3-in-1 Cable $3.99

Provides retractable Ethernet/telephone and USB cords in a single, self-contained housing.

• Cellboost iRecharge $4.99

External battery pack for iPods/iPhones and other USB chargeable devices.

• OWC Memory Upgrade Kits from $15.99

More memory = faster Mac with easy to install OWC Memory upgrades.

• OWC Express USB 2.0 Enclosure $19.99

Pocket-sized, bus-powered 2.5″ SATA hard drive enclosure for the digital mobile lifestyle.

• NewerTech® Charge & Sync + $39.99

Portable charger, battery pack, and sync solution for iPods, iPhones, and other USB compatible devices.

• NewerTech Voyager Quad Interface Hard Drive Docking Solution $89.99

“Quad Interface” hard drive dock for 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA hard drives up to 2.0TB.

• NewerTech Guardian MAXimus $319.99

Plug and Play RAID 1 with two 1.0TB hard drives for protecting precious holiday memories.

In case you didn’t see it mentioned on other news sites, forums, etc, we announced free shipping on all orders over $150 today thru December 31st from our on-line catalog of over 2,500 products and a Top 10 Gift Giving Ideas list with “stocking stuffer” suggestions starting at $3.99 to help you make tech/gadget gift giving easier and more economical heading into the upcoming “Black Friday/Cyber Monday” holiday shopping kickoff dates.

We’ve been reading that value and frugality are the key objectives of shoppers this year and wanted to make sure we offered the right products and services to make us the easiest, one-stop choice for all your Mac, PC, iPod, and iPhone product purchases. And even bigger news perhaps is that we’ve extended our operation hours so qualifying orders can ship same day when placed as late as 10:30pm as well as permanently extending our Live Chat support to a full 24/7 service level.