MacBook Pro :: Drobo Vs OWC Mercury Elite Vs Others
Oct 29, 2009
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?
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Oct 27, 2009
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?
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Apr 6, 2009
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?
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Jul 11, 2009
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.
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Sep 14, 2009
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?
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Dec 14, 2009
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.
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Jan 4, 2010
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?
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Jan 21, 2009
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
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Apr 30, 2009
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.
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Dec 30, 2008
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?
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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.
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Feb 2, 2010
I have a Drobo for data backup and storage. Anyway I am looking to connect the Drobo to my Airport Express as an AirDisk. However the Drobo keeps going into 'sleep' mode and I can't access it anymore.
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Nov 29, 2010
Which would you guys tell me to get in the 120 GB variant and why?
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May 5, 2010
[URL] I've had my 200GB for a week now and it's simply amazing. My xbench is over 360, boot up time under 7 seconds, PS launches in 2. But most of all - it works, no sleeping issues, nothing. I did try the F200 before and it was ... not ready. OWC did a great job. I'm getting the new 400GB as soon as it's there.
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Feb 16, 2012
My Time Machine backup keeps failing. How do I find out why? MacBook Pro 5,1 OS 10.5.8, 6GB ram backing up to new OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 2TB.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
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Dec 27, 2010
I have been using the OWC mercury 200GB SSD for 4 months now and I am experiencing a lot of freezing and lags on my 2010 15" i7 MBP. I tried restoring to original MAC OS Snow Leopard but it still froze. I dont know the exact problem.
Freezing occurs mostly when I perform major task/ heavy duties on the MacBook Pro, for example, when doing some video calling on Skype, Playing starcraft 2 and some heavy games.
Anyone having the same issues? Does anyone know any problem solving solutions?
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Jun 13, 2012
This really irks me. I read that it was taken down because of "innapropriate user generated content". If you take down 4Chan Elite because of user content, you may as well take down Safari too. The app is clearly marked 17+. I want to know why it was taken down and if there will be a time when it will be put back up.
Info:
iPod touch, iOS 5.1.1
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Apr 11, 2012
I wood like to know when will the Call Of Duty Elite app come to the Estonia AppStore?
Info:
iPhone 4, iOS 5.1, Call Of Duty Elite app Estonia
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May 26, 2009
I recently moved from a Power Mac G5 to a Mac Pro and in general it has been a smooth transition. One frustration recently however has been using it with my Drobo.
I had two 1.5TB drives in my Drobo with some data. I connected it using FW800 as usual and created a sparse image for my Time machine drive. The Drobo was soon getting full so I added another 1.5TB disk. At first I couldn't get this to be recognised in either bay 3 or 4 - it span up but the green light never came on. I tested the drive in a separate enclosure and found it worked fine. As a last resort I unplugged the Drobo from the power and when it started up the drive was recognised!
The only problem now is I sleep my Mac Pro when not in use and although the Drobo will sleep fine whenever I wake my Mac the drives in the Drobo spin up - the green lights come on and then all the lights go out and it reboots itself. OS X then gives the device removal message as if I had pulled a cable.
I had seen this once or twice on my G5 but figured out it was when the Drobo hadn't been accessed and the drives were spun down - when putting the G5 to sleep the Drobo would start spinning up the drives just as the computer went to sleep. I got around this problem by making sure I accessed the Drobo before choosing sleep so the drives were spinning.
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Dec 15, 2010
Just wanted to ask a few questions about firmware and SSD's. Is there any way to check which firmware you have under osx? Windows? I'd like to find out what firmware my OWC Mercury Extreme 120g has, and if it was shipped with the recent upgrade. If it's not, what is the best way to go about upgrading the firmware? Reformatting to windows, wiping the drive clean, then installing (under win7) ?
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Oct 1, 2010
do you know if drobo fs works with 10.4.11?
when it first came out it stated it worked with 10.4... now their site has changed to say 10.5 +
I need to update my MBP to 10.5/.6+, but it's still on 10.4.11...
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May 21, 2009
Has anyone had any luck with not using an Internal Hard Drive and using either a Drobo or external drive to run OSX? I was thinking of getting a new HD that runs FW800 or using my Drobo to creat a partition to load Mac OSX on and run the OS from an external HD.
The Reason I am even trying this, is because the Mini uses Laptop drives with less specs then my External Seagate 500GB 7200RPM with 16 MB of Cache, also 3.5" drives seem to run quicker then even the fastest 2.5" drives.
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Jun 26, 2010
First I thought on buying the 4 bay one, but then I found its 2nd generation, so I guess it would be better to buy the newest one, which would be the 5 bay, not the FS one. I've never used a NAS, so I dont know how it works.
Now I'm looking at the Drobo with 8 bay, and I really like it. With that one I wouldnt have storage problems for years, and I download many many things every day: tv shows, movies,, pictures, music, etc
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Nov 4, 2010
I have used my first generation USB Drobo for a few years with relative success with my G5. I've now upgraded to a Mac Pro with OSX 10.6.4. I have 3 volumes on my desktop drobo 1 is for time machine, drobo 2 and 3 are backup files. I have 7.5 TBs total. Ever since the computer upgrade the Drobo (all 3 volumes) unmount and the warning window opens saying a devise was disconnected improperly. I called Drobo, they say run disc utility to repair any time that happens. So I run repair , 2 and 3 volume repair quickly, Volume 1 can take 16 or 20 hours.
I have went over this many times with Drobo, I ran a diagnostic test and sent to them, they say my drives are fine, they sent me a new power adaptor. I took Drobo home to my G5 and it ran fine for a week, I take it to work and attach it to the Mac Pro and poof, disconnects in less than an hour. Drobo wants me to reformat the machine now (I do have everything backed up on G Techs). Should I bother erasing and starting over with this or use it as an $800 paperweight?
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Oct 31, 2009
A friend send me a video on Mercury Messenger and when I opened it I wanted to save it but where it says "Pro Save" or "Pro Save As" they are grayed out and it wont let me click it. How can I save the video?
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Sep 11, 2010
I will be shopping for an ethernet-based NAS for my new house in a few months. While I have some knowledge of the Drobo, I was wondering how a Drobo compared to a Synology or comparable brand NAS.
I am looking to use this primarily for Time Machine backups and iTunes storage.
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Aug 29, 2009
I want to upgrade my current NAS (Synology 109j) to something that is expandable and redundant. Last weekend I thought a Drobo with DroboShare would be great! Then I remembered that HP makes a MediaSmart server that runs Windows HomeServer [URL]. Now I'm stuck. I'm not sure which one I should get. What are your thoughts?
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Oct 15, 2009
With a Mac Mini as a HTPC, I am going to add external storage that can be expanded to about 8TB. I don't see myself maxing out 4TB in the near future.
I have looked into Drobo, despite all of the mixed reviews. Some say they love it, some say it is slow and have had problems, and some have said their Drobo died no more than a year in. However, the ease of use and ease of expandability is very tempting. So, if I do not find an alternative I will purchase a Drobo soon.
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Feb 7, 2010
Im planning on getting a Drobo S. However, Im torn between getting 5 - 2TB 5400 drives or 5 - 1TB 7200 drives. I plan on using it strictly for data storage and as a capture scratch.
I'll be using it via ESATA but was wondering if I would notice a significant difference between the 5400 and the 7200 and if that difference is worth the loss of space?
Anyone have any idea what drives would be best for use in Drobo S?
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Sep 17, 2010
OWC Mercury Pro 60gig SSD vs Corsair F40 40gig SSD
Installed in: MacMini Late 2009 2.53ghz 4Gig ram
A few of you may know that I had the Corsair F40 SSD a few weeks ago after reading some good reviews. I went ahead and purchased it at Frys for ($90) after rebate and with the feedback from everyone I took a look at the OWC SSD's as well. I chatted with customer service and they were very helpful and I decided to get the 60 Gig version.
I cloned using DiskUtility and ran xbench. I did honestly notice a slightly faster boot time with the corsair, i don't exactly know why. What's even more amazing is that MS WORD seems to boot the slowest of all my launch programs, even PS4. (that is true for both drives).
So if anyone is decided between OWC vs Corsair vs whatever brand..here are my results and my experiences.
The main reason I went with the OWC SSD is their customer service and reliability respectively. I have had no problems with the corsair. I actually might have stuck with the Corsair had they had the F60 (60gig) in stock.
Needless to say, I'm happy with the SSD upgrade.
Sidenote: I have a OWC Mercury External with a 1TB caviar black hooked up via FireWire800 and I notice my boot time is significantly slower if my drive is turned on at boot. I'm not sure how to disable the Mac from seeking it perhaps. I've just tried to get used to turning it on and off at boot.
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