Press

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading provider of products and services for the Macintosh marketplace, today announced it has begun shipping its first 7200RPM Mercury On-The-Go portable storage drives available in 60 Gigabyte (GB) capacities.

The 7200RPM Mercury On-The-Go drives feature 8 Megabytes (MB) of cache and are available with either a FireWire only interface or with both FireWire and Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces. The IEEE1394/iLink-compliant FireWire interface on the 60GB On-The-Go solutions supports both a powered (6-pin) and an unpowered (4-pin) port. Conversely, the USB interface on the combination FireWire/USB 60GB On-The-Go external hard drive supports both USB v2.0 and v1.1. These are the fastest portable storage drives OWC has offered to date.

“Until now, the fastest 2.5-inch drives available were based on 5400RPM 2.5-inch mechanisms,” said Larry O’Connor, president of OWC. “Now, as a result of newly available Hitachi 7200RPM mechanisms, we have broken a new speed barrier with the fastest 2.5-inch FireWire solution ever.”

Weighing 11 ounces and measuring only 3.5-inches x 5.5-inches x 1.0-inches, the new Mercury On-The-Go drives provide convenient and portable solutions for additional storage capacity, transporting large files between multiple computers, and real-time audio and video editing that is plug-and-play for quick access wherever one travels. Additionally, the drives can be used with any electronic device that has FireWire and/or USB data ports, including digital video and still cameras.

“More than ever before, consumer preferences are turning towards portability and convenience,” O’Connor said. “Our Mercury On-The-Go drives are the perfect answer for those ‘on-the-go’ needs, and are specifically designed to fit the needs of a variety of users from system administrators to videographers, graphic designers to students. The truly remarkable thing about our new 7200RPM model, however, is that it actually runs quieter and uses less power than many 5400RPM drives on the market today.”

Mercury On-The-Go plug-and-play drives are compatible with any operating system with FireWire or USB (combo model) support, including Apple OS 8.6-9.2.2, OS X and Windows 98SE/2000/XP. Features include shock-protective design, a cool blue activity LED, near-silent operation and multiple connecting ports. Drives may be powered via FireWire or the included AC adapter, and all cables, formatting software and a one-year warranty are also included.

The 7200RPM 60GB Mercury On-The-Go FireWire/USB combo drive is immediately available for $429.99, with 20GB to 80GB 4200RPM or 5400RPM models available from $169.99. The 7200RPM 60GB Mercury On-The-Go FireWire drive is immediately available for $419.99, with 20GB to 80GB 4200RPM or 5400RPM models available from $159.97. Complete pricing and product information can be found online at /link.cfm?id=9952-7699.

Pricing, ordering and availability information for other OWC products is available online exclusively at www.macsales.com. OWC’s online newsroom is found at /NewsRoom/.