Storage is the lifeblood of our computers. It’s something we need more of now that so many of us work from home at least for some of the time. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll already know that Apple is notoriously mean when it comes to the amount of memory in its machines. The company charges a fortune for larger amounts of storage so it can be more cost-effective to add storage using an external drive.
Recently I had the chance to try out the new Mercury Elite Pro mini USB-C Portable Storage Solution from Other World Computing. This Illinois-based company makes a whole slew of great products for those of us who use Macs and that includes storage drives, RAM upgrades and a large range of products for squeezing more performance out of a Mac.
The OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini is an SSD housed in a cute aluminum external case and is ideal for creative professionals, office users, students, and families to back up and safely store work files. The Mercury Elite Pro mini has a USB-C 10Gb/s interface and is available in sizes up to 4TB of storage capacity. In terms of speed, the mini can achieve up to 542MB/s real-world performance data transfers.
A high-speed USB-C cable is supplied with the drive and there’s a USB-A adapter tethered to the cable so the drive can be plugged into either type of port. The Mercury Elite Pro mini is bus-powered so there’s no need to use a separate power adapter and the drive is passively cooled, so there’s no noisy fan to disturb the user.
As soon as the drive is plugged into a computer, a handy guide pops up to hold the user’s hand through the processes of formatting and deciding whether it should be used for backing up. There’s no compulsion to use the walk-thru guide but I love the fact that OWC has put it there. Not everyone is a computer whiz and those of us who are comfortable with technology sometimes forget that. Well done, OWC!
Besides saving and backing up computer data or functioning as a workhorse drive on set or in the edit suite, the drive is ideal for storing downloaded videos, music files or holding a photo library. The drive can be hooked up to a gaming console or smart TV and then videos, music and pictures can be streamed directly from the drive without the need for a computer.
As well as being an ideal storage device for Mac and PCs, the Mercury Elite Pro mini can also work with an eight gen PS4 or Xbox One or the latest PS5 or Xbox Series X/S console. The OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini can easily extend the storage of a games console. The drive can also be used to run backward compatible PS4 and Xbox One games directly from the OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini, saving the console’s precious internal storage for the latest titles. You can also store PS5 and Xbox Series X/S games on the OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini and transfer them faster than re-downloading to a console.
Verdict: The OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini is probably one of my favorite mini drives along with the excellent SanDisk Extreme Pro and WD Black P50. It’s a compact drive that’s about the length and width of a smaller smartphone and roughly 2.5cm thick. Mercury Elite Pro mini is small enough to fit in a pocket and has a status light on the front of the casing to show when it’s working. I love the fact there’s no fan and the drive can be configured with a 2.5mm SATA hard drive if SSD performance isn’t required. It’s even possible to buy an empty Mercury Elite Pro mini case and fit your own hard drive in it. The only thing this little gizmo hasn’t got is a carrying case, but you can get one of those from Amazon to keep it safe if it’s being carried around. Highly Recommended.
Pricing & Availability: The OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini is available in capacities up to 4TB and in SSD or hard drive configurations. The OWC Mercury Elite Pro mini is available now in capacities from 0TB (you add your own drives) starting at $42.99 or from 480GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities starting at $94.00.
More info: www.owcdigital.com
Features & Specs:
- Universal compatibility with Plug and Play with past, present, and future Macs, PCs, iPad Pros, Chromebooks, and Android tablets
- Interface: USB 3.2 10GB/s USB-C
- Real world speed: 542MB/s real-world performance
- Apple Time Machine and Windows File History ready: Yes
- PlayStation and Xbox compatible: Yes
- Bus-powered: Yes
- Bootable: Yes
- Quiet: heat-dissipating aircraft-grade aluminum housing with fanless venting
- Connectivity: Any USB or Thunderbolt device with supplied USB-C cable and USB-A adapter
- Dimensions: 7.8 x 2.4 x 12.4 cm (WxHxD)
- Warranty: 3-Year OWC Limited Warranty
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