Mercury On-The-Go Pro

High-speed portable storage with FireWire 800

Portable drives are getting smaller in this world of pocket-sized USB flash drives and microSD modules, but the performance isn’t always what you might wish for when you need access to larger image files or projects. If you get the performance, you may end up with a sore shoulder from lugging around an enormous drive in your gear bag. Enter the latest portable external drive from Other World Computing (OWC), the Mercury-On-The-Go Pro. It looks like most other drives, except for a full-length heat sink on the bottom of the Seagate Momentus 7200.2, and the connectivity options are there on the cabling (included) so that you can plug in via FireWire 800, FW 400, or USB 2.0 and have instant access to your files or to backup on the fly.

Where this little drive shows its uniqueness is in the combination of compact size and full-sized performance—something rivaled only by desktop drives costing quite a bit more. In fact, the OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro has transfer speeds that matched my 400-GB high-speed desktop media server. OWC puts everything you need in the box including power adapter (but the drive runs just fine bus-powered), cables, and all of the software and other goodies that the company is known for. The drive is essentially silent and packs a 160-GB, 7200-rpm, 8-MB hard disk.

Yes, portable drives may essentially be just hard disks in a case, but OWC gives you everything you need to move large files anywhere, anytime. This is one big, fast drive in a little tiny package. For design teams or photographers, multimedia or whatever you need your drive to do, this is your baby.— Daniel M. East

PRICE: Approx. $259.99
FROM: Other World Computing
PHONE: 800-275-4576
WEB: www.macsales.com
FOR:
RATING: 5

LAYERS VERDICT
HOT Fast; quiet; connectivity options
NOT