Press

Other World Computing (OWC®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac® and PC technology company, announced today it has expanded the storage capacity of its high-performance OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 desktop hardware RAID storage line to 16.0TB by utilizing four of the industry’s only 3.5" 4.0TB SATA 6Gb/s hard drive in the Qx2’s four hot swappable drive bays. In addition to offering massive storage/backup capacity in a desktop sized footprint, the Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 features a “Quad Interface” of FireWire® 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports and four selectable Hardware RAID settings – 0, 1, 5, 10 – for high speed, highly reliable Plug and Play use with Macs and PCs.

Five Prosumer Models Available

• 2.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 (500GB x 4) - $599.99
• 4.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 (1TB x 4) - $799.99
• 8.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 (2TB x 4) - $999.97
• 12.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 (3TB x 4) - $1429.99
• 16.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 (4TB x 4) - $1997.99

The Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 is available in four Enterprise Class options up to 12.0TB and a 0GB kit (no drives included) option. All Qx2 models include a disk utility software bundle retail valued at more than $100, all interface connection cables, and a three-year warranty.

Comprehensive “Burn-in” Test Ensures Highest Reliability
Unlike most other brand solutions that are assembled then shipped with little or no testing, all OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 solutions undergo a multi-hour “burn in” performance certification procedure prior to shipping to ensure the unit is operating properly and that the installed drives are ready for demanding use. The new 16.0TB model test takes over 30 hours to complete while lower capacity Qx2 models testing hours start at 10 hours and go up to 24 hours.

Built for Demanding Performance-Intensive Applications
The OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 is built for demanding performance-intensive professional applications such as Audio/Video editing, HD-video, digital photography, professional music, graphics, redundant backup, and any use requiring data storage performance and reliability. Pre-configured in a Hardware RAID 5 mode to provide data redundancy to ensure uninterrupted access to stored data, as well as protecting against data loss, the Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 can also be configured to automatically perform one of the other three hardware RAID settings: 0, 1, or 10, as well as a Span (NRAID) setting. To read how the Qx2 fits into the production workflow of professional users, visit http://eshop.macsales.com/owcpages/procorner/

Plug & Play Desktop RAID for Mac & PC
The OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 offers a variety of convenience features that make adding it to any Mac or PC Plug & Play easy: FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA interfaces provide compatibility with multiple operating systems and computers; front panel LEDs give quick, at-a-glance system status; and a removable key lock ensures the installed hard drives and selected RAID mode remain secure.

Highest Capacity, Lowest Environmental Impact
The new 4.0TB hard drive built into OWC Mercury storage solutions employs a halogen-free design and power-efficient operation — up to a 28 percent idle power savings — to complement OWC’s well-regarded environmental practices. The drive also uses Advanced Format, which increases the sector size from 512 bytes to 4096 (4K) bytes, thereby increasing capacities and improving error correction capabilities.

Backed by the Best Support in the Industry
The best warranty is one a consumer should never have to use, but should the need occur, OWC is proud to provide a superior level of support and warranty coverage. All OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2 storage solutions come fully backed by free lifetime US-based 24/7 technical support and up to a five-year warranty which includes a 48-hour repair turnaround time with six months of complimentary Level 1 data recovery.

For more information on all OWC External Storage Solutions, visit:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/