Mac Pro :: OWC Mercury Elite - AL "Quad Interface" External HD Enclosure
Apr 3, 2008
Does anyone own the OWC Mercury Elite-AL "Quad Interface" external HD enclosure? It's the one with the eSATA/Firewire800/Firewire400/USB ports. Any opinions, warnings or praise? Do they keep the drive cool enough? I just ordered one, only to find out it's on back order. I also ordered a Western Digital "Green Power" RE2-GP 1TB drive, and the Newer Technology eSATA Extender to go with it. All will serve as a Time Machine backup drive.
looking at installing an OEM SATA hard drive into an OWC Mercury Elite-AL enclosure. Do I need a ribbon cable and screws? If so, could anyone recommend a brand of cable and tell me what size screws I would most likely need?
Just posting this so it will be easier for others who need the firmware updater for the most recent dual drive quad enclosure from OWC using the 936 Oxford chipset, to allow you to switch between RAID 0 (stripe), 1 (mirror) and JBOD modes. I sourced this direct from OWC for my bare drive kit (part no. OWCMEFW936AL2K) after a call to tech support. When flashing, ensure no other devices are connected to the firewire chain. Backup any data on the hard disks before changing modes! If you have the same (or the enclosure with included drives) this is the firmware for you, but to be absolutely safe, give OWC a call and they will send you the correct firmware directly
I need RAID enclosure- with FW800 (e-sata would be bonus, but for now I have no use for it), and USB2. 4 hard drive capacity would be nice too, but I could settle for 2 as well (as long as it is compatible with 2TB hard drives). Enclosure I mentioned in the title seems very nice, and I have one OWC enclosure already, pretty happy with it.
1) Is the 0TB ones worth the cost (ill be getting my own drives) for the hardware raid?
2) How well made is the overall system does the hardware raid work well?
3) if i use it in raid 1+0 or raid 5 if a drive fails do i have to power down the box to replace the drive or is it hotswap?
4) Does Macsales (OWC) ship to Australia and how does warranty work?
5) Can you also use this with no raid?
6) Say if i turn the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 off it will kill the data if its in raid? when it if does not when i turn it back on does it have to rebuild the array? and how long does that take?
I've just purchased an OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro SATA HDx2 HWRD with two Seagate 1TB drives. This will be used for data backup, not video streaming or anything requiring speed. Product description says it supports only RAID-0. I want to use Disk Utility to set up as RAID-1. Do I have to move a jumper or do anything else? Has anyone else tried using Disk Utility to create a RAID-1 setup on a RAID-0 enclosure?
I think i should of asked this before I went ahead and started to back up my mac using time machine. It's backing up as I post. Question, how do I partition it so that I can have music, video, applications each on their respective partition?
I don't have experience with setting up RAIDs though I've read a lot and don't think it would be too difficult. The Drobo doesn't do eSATA and I really want the fastest possible so OWC Mercury Elite beats it there. Still I've fallen victim to the Drobo gimmick where it seems really easy, does it all for you, but most importantly you can use any size drive and the Drobo does the dirty work. I'm not even sure what this "dirty" work would involve since I always thought when building an array you needed to have drives that are identical in model/make and size. Am I wrong? Can a cheaper OWC Mercury Elite like this be as user friendly as the Drobo? Are there other recommendations?
Barefeats recently reviewed the OWC Mercury Elite here but it doesn't compare it to other setups. In fact it say's in the article it won't provide blazing speeds without dedicated eSATA channels which isn't exactly a positive review. Still it would be faster than a Drobo. Am I missing any other options for the same price or less?
Does anyone have an OWC Mercury Elite-Al Pro Qx2? If so any idea how to get it into JBOD mode? In the book, it shows to set the selector to 0 if using a software raid, however if I do that the rebuild light just blinks (why when it shouldn't be in a raid?) and does nothing even after 36 hours. All other raid modes that I have tested on this work flawlessly.
I have this case [URL] And it has a power switch on the back. When I turn my MBP off I'd like the drives to shut off but they just stay on and I have to manually switch them off. Is there a way to get them to do that? Also is it safe to turn off the drives manually after ejecting?
I just bought a refurbished OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual (with the 924 chipset) and can't figure out how to get it to sleep while connected under FW800. Under USB this operates as I expect: shut down the Mac, the drive shuts down. Under FW800 though, nothing. It doesn't matter if I eject, suspend, shutdown the drives just keep spinning (x2 WD Caviar Green). This is connected to an 09 Mini but also tested with an 08 Macbook Pro with the same results.
I've checked with OWC, Apple and the Apple Store as well as numerous boards with no luck. Any suggestions are highly welcome. If anyone has this case and can properly get it to sleep under FW800 I'd like to hear from you! Before I consider any warranty repairs (shipping will kill me being from Canada) I want to know if I'm wasting my time. I may just end up having to leave on 24/7 but ideally would like to have it sleep overnight.
I currently have windows XP installed by VMware Fusion on an internal hard drive. Is it possible to move the hard drive to an external firewire hard drive enclosure and still be able to run windows XP from my Mac Pro?
I want to clone my hard drive to use on my new one. i dont have an external hd enclosure, though, and would be happy if i didnt have to buy one. i was hoping i could make a clone onto my networked time capsule, then replace the hard drives and somehow boot from the clone from my time capsule.
I'm replacing my 320GB HD from my late '08 MBP with a new Hitachi 500GB unit.
It would be a shame to let the old HD go to waste, so I was wondering what SATA enclosures you guys and girls are using? Preferably something that will connect to my MBP using either Firewire 800 or USB 2.0. There are so many out there, I don't want to buy the wrong one and be disappointed with the quality. Thanks in advance.
I currently have windows XP installed by VMware Fusion on an internal hard drive. Is it possible to move the hard drive to an external firewire hard drive enclosure and still be able to run windows XP from my Mac Pro?
I'm looking to clone my 250gb HD over to a 1TB Western Digital 2.5 HD. I need to get an external USB harddrive enclosure, but most that I've seen say it has a 500GB capacity. Does anyone know of any cheap external enclosures that can get the job done? If so, can you provide a link?
i bought a mini and a external hdd enclosure hopping that i can get my old hd back just for the pics when i when plug it in it doesnt mount to the desktop
I am looking to build my own external RAID setup and have it function as another set of internal ones. Is it possible to buy a computer case and put in a raid card and a power source and just run SATA cables to my mac pro?
Does anyone know where/if i can get a 3.5" hard drive enclosure with firewire 800? I'm wanting it for backup for my macbook pro with time machine but i'm struggling to find one on the internet.
I'm looking to clone my 250gb HD over to a 1TB Western Digital 2.5 HD. I need to get an external USB harddrive enclosure, but most that I've seen say it has a 500GB capacity. Does anyone know of any cheap external enclosures that can get the job done? If so, can you provide a link?
The subject pretty much says it. Which PCI card to add a External Serial ATA Enclosure to a Dual G5 2.0 GHz? Looking at Sonnet there are PCI and PCI-X SATA/ATA cards.I'm looking to expand my storage and this was a recommendation.
I have just received a Firewire enclosure for a SuperDrive I bought months ago from the same company, Other World Computing. I was told that they would work together, but now that I'm assembling it, I find that the tiny holes on the drive (very near the edge of the drive, and only two on each side of the top, not the many more that the enclosure seems to indicate should be there. In addition, the holes in the drive and the ones in the enclosure don't match up. The enclosure also is very long for the drive, even allowing for room to attach the ribbon cable and other cables inside. I have now spoken with three different people at OWC, and nobody knows why this is or how to work out the problem, except to offer me another, less desirable enclosure that they assure me will fit the drive. (I didn't mention that the drive is an older model and that they no longer carry it.)
Well, I was assured that the one they have already sent me was just fine for my drive, so you can 't blame me for being a bit wary of the assurances for the other enclosure. The drive fits very snugly in the enclosure and doesn't seem to shift around. If I replaced a metal piece around the front of the drive that I took off to make it fit more flush with the front of the enclosure, it would be an even tighter fit. It wouldn't look as nice, but it could be done. My question is I whether I can dispense with putting in those screws, which are meant to secure the drive within the case and keep it from shifting around. (The screws meant to attach the back panel of the enclosure, the one with the internal cables, and the holes in the enclosure will fit together fine, because they are both part of the same thing.)
I'm looking into getting an external exclosure...should I stick with good old USB 2.0, or look into getting USB 3? Is it too new to get it? Anyone have one they are currently using?
im looking for an external enclosure that provides a firewire option for my macbook pro. The reason i am doing this is because my macbook will randomly eject my usb powered one for no reason. I have been reading that firewire does not have this problem. Im only looking for an enclosure as I replaced my stock 320gb hardrive with a 64gb ssd for my main drive. Preferably something in the 30$ range because im a poor college student . Anybody know of a good enclosure to go with?
This is strange. I have a SATA drive that works when it's in an external USB enclosure but when I put the same SATA drive in one of the bays in my Mac Pro, the Mac Pro won't start up.Specifics:-I've reformatted the drive (with GUID and with Mac Partition Map), with no change in behavior-A different drive in the same Mac Pro drive bay works fine, so it's not the drive bay-the suspect drive in any of drive bay keeps the computer from booting (grey screen, no apple)
My iMac G5 logic board has died. I am going to get a new iMac 27" core i5 when they become available and want to take my internal hard drive from my G5 and convert it to an external for use as a secondary back up device. I found the ultra ULTA40273 model at tigerdirect.com. Is this a good enclosure?
I'm looking to set up a 4+ drive external eSATA raid system (likely raid5). My biggest need is quiet. I've tried 2 boxes thus far including the 4big quadra that was supposed to be engineered for noise, but it had an annoying fan speed fluctuation and was actually much louder than my mac pro. I have a drobo and that is also too noisy. I'm wondering of anyone knows of a box or other option that is either fanless (ideally) or has one large super quiet fan.
I just purchased a new 3tb Seagate drive to replace a 2tb drive in an external USB enclosure, I can access, partition and format it using Parallels but can't even see it in Disk Utilities on Mac OS X 10.6.8...?
External IDE drive,- removed from a dead PC. chock full of files. Mounted via USB perfectly on the 'Vista PC and I am pretty certain the drive mounted on new MacBook Pro running 10.6.2 (using Wiebe's external docking device) Many documents were present and viewable on the Mac
Drive then placed in plastic bag on counter in dining room. Two weeks later I purchased a USB enclosure for the drive. Installed easily. Powered up immediately, I can hear the drive spinning.
Connected to the same macbook pro to which the drive had, two weeks earlier been connected, and mounted. Except now the drive does not mount
Power is on. I can hear the drive spin But now the drive does not mount. Disk Utility sees the drive but it does not mount. Mac asks me if I want to reformat the drive as it is unrecognizable. Drive Genius and Disk Recovery see the drive but can find no files.
What might have happened? Did damage occur by putting in an enclosure? I have put numerous hard drives in enclosures and never had this problem.I know I pushed in the cables tightly and assume that the drive would not power nor the drive be seen if IDE ribbon cable and power line were not properly fastened. I am puzzled. Anything I can do? would like to save these folks' files.
