If there’s one thing that ANYONE at Gear Diary can attest to, its the need for some kind of backup solution.The site has had at least 1 catastrophic failure, where a great deal of data was lost.  I personally have had my PC’s go south at least twice in 13 years where a backup either wasn’t available or was corrupted. 

Now, I’ve got multiple backups on my MyBook World Edition NAS as well as on a USB 2.0 2.5" hard drive…but neither of these are always the best solution. Sometimes, you need a bit more.

OWC recently announced a desktop RAID solution that holds anywhere from 2.0 to 8.0TB (yes, that’s EIGHT terabytes) of data in either RAID 0,1,5 or 10 arrays.  The nice thing about this particular solution is that it appears to be pretty much plug and play, allowing you to connect your PC to it with either FireWire 400/800, USB 2.0 or eSATA cables.

I’m in the process of arranging for a review unit to be sent, and we’ll be taking a closer look at this device to see if its something that anyone and everyone can use to help make their data more secure.  The complete press release can be found after the break.

 

OWC ANNOUNCES MERCURY ELITE-AL PRO Qx2 “QUAD INTERFACE” PLUG & PLAY DESKTOP HARDWARE RAID SOLUTION

ULTIMATE IN FLEXIBILITY & CONVENIENCE

• 4 Interfaces: FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, & eSATA
• 4 Drive Bays: up to 8TB Storage
• 4 Hardware RAID Settings: 0, 1, 5, 10

 

April 14, 2009, Woodstock, IL — Other World Computing (OWC^®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading PC and Mac technology company, announced today the new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 for the ultimate in flexibility and convenience in a Plug and Play desktop hardware RAID storage solution. Featuring a “Quad Interface” of FireWire^® 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports; 4 Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive bays; and 4 user selectable hardware RAID settings, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 offers up to 8TB of total storage capacity and data transfer speeds up to 300MB/s for the ultimate professional grade RAID storage solution.

Professional Performance With User Conveniences

Built for performance-intensive applications, such as A/V, HD-video, digital photography, professional music, graphics, and redundant backup, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 is beautifully designed for both Mac and PC with a shock resistant, heat dissipating aircraft-grade brushed aluminum housing preconfigured with up to 8TB of storage capacity. Its front panel LEDs gives quick, at-a-glance system status, while the removable key lock ensures the installed hard drives remain secure.

Selectable Hardware RAID Flexibility

An easy to access front panel selector switch provides simple configuration of the 4 Hardware RAID settings: 0, 1, 5, 10, as well as a Span (NRAID) setting, for the best level of speed, capacity, or redundancy; or any desired combination of the three operations.

OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 is Available in 7 Configurations:

• · 2TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (500GB x 4 w/64MB cache) & 3 year warranty – $679.99
• · 3TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (750GB x 4 w/128MB cache) & 3 year warranty – $849.99
• · 4TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (1TB x 4 w/128MB cache) & 3 year warranty – $979.99
• · 6TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (1.5TB x 4 w/128MB cache) & 3 year warranty – $1149.99
• · 8TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (2TB x 4 w/128MB cache) & 3 year warranty – $1899.99
• · Enterprise Class 2TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (500GB x 4 w/64MB cache) & 5 year warranty – $799.99
• · Enterprise Class 4TB OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 (1TB x 4 w/128MB cache) & 5 year warranty – $1149.99

The Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 is now shipping in capacities from 2TB to 8TB, priced starting at $699.99 MSRP from Other World Computing at www.macsales.com. The Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 is compatible with Apple OS 8.6 to 9.2.2, OS X 10.0.x, and 10.2.8 or later, and Windows 98SE or later operating systems. It comes ready for Plug and Play ease of use with all interface connecting cables, a $200 retail value disk utility software bundle, and up to an industry leading 5 year warranty.