Press

Other World Computing, a leading provider of products and services for the Macintosh marketplace, today introduced the high performance Mercury Elite FireWire/USB 2.0 Combo Storage Solution that operates at 7200 RPMs. The Mac OS and Windows-compatible combo drives are available in storage capacities ranging from 40GBs to 120GBs and feature transfer rates of up to 480 Megabits per second (Mbps) with USB 2.0 and up to 400 Mbps with the FireWire connection.

OWC’s FireWire/USB Combo drives are designed for professionals and consumers who need convenient, portable storage for large amounts of data. These high-speed, high-capacity drives can be used to backup data, transport and synchronize files between multiple computers, free-up valuable hard disk space on existing computers and are ideal for high-audio/video applications. The combo drives are also especially convenient when transferring data between computers that may feature only FireWire or only USB platforms.

“The storage market is moving more and more to consolidated solutions, and we have combined the two fastest data transfer technologies into one sleek, high-capacity solution,” said Larry O’Connor, president of OWC. “Whether you need to transfer large files between home and the office, capture live digital audio/video, store high-quality home video, manage large graphic files, etcetera, the Mercury Combo solutions have you covered with high performance and plug-and-play ease.”

Mercury’s FireWire external hard drives offer massive hot-swap storage that can be quickly and easily disconnected from the computer, and either locked up for security, or shared from one computer to another. The Mercury Elite drives are compatible with any computer with a FireWire or USB port, using either Mac® OS 8.6-9.2.2; Mac OS X; Windows 98 or higher operating systems. For computers without FireWire or USB ports, OWC offers several combination FireWire/USB PCI adapters for desktops, and CardBus PCMCIA FireWire cards for notebooks.

Each combo drive includes a FireWire cable, USB cable, an external power supply, which reduces noise, Intech’s HD SpeedTools software, and a one-year warranty. USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with USB 1.1, as are all of OWC’s Mercury combo drives. Whereas most FireWire cases use the same ATA mechanism, the main difference in the OWC’s Mercury hard drives is the FireWire Bridge, which operates as much as 100 percent faster than the majority of the company’s competitors.

“Not all systems have USB and not all systems have FireWire, but most systems have one or the other,” O’Connor said. “The Mercury Elite and Elite Pro Combo drives make it easy for users to transfer or backup data or use files with either of the transfer technologies. The drives also offer the opportunity for users with a USB-only system to have the FireWire option when they upgrade to a system with FireWire support.”

Pricing for the Mercury Elite 7200 Combo model begins at $189.99 for the 40GB drive up to $299.99 for the 120GB drive.

Mercury drives are available exclusively through OWC at www.macsales.com.