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๐Ÿ”’ owc mercury on-the-go portable 2.5" fw800/usb3.0 enclosure kit for sata: powerful storage solution in compact form logo

๐Ÿ”’ OWC Mercury On-The-Go Portable 2.5" FW800/USB3.0 Enclosure Kit for SATA: Powerful Storage Solution in Compact Form Review

8

ยท

Very good

Revainrating 4.5 out of 5ย ย 
Ratingย 
4.4
๐Ÿ–ด External Hard Drives, ๐Ÿ’พ Data Storage

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Description of ๐Ÿ”’ OWC Mercury On-The-Go Portable 2.5" FW800/USB3.0 Enclosure Kit for SATA: Powerful Storage Solution in Compact Form

0GB Bus-Powered, Multi-Interface Enclosure Kit, Mac and PC compatible. USB 3.0 & 2.0 / FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 Backwards Compatible) Enclosure Kit. The On-The-Go "Add your own Drive" Kit enclosure is ready to accept your own 2.5" SATA Hard Drive or SSD. Includes USB 3.0 and FireWire 800 connecting cables. 1 Year OWC Limited Warranty.

Reviews

Global ratings 8
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    6
  • 4
    1
  • 3
    0
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Type of review

Revainrating 1 out of 5

They work great, just be careful with the performance.

They work great, just be careful how much power is required for the drive you plug in. If you have a drive that draws 850mA or more, the Mac's USB port won't be able to power it since it only puts out 1A. It's not the case's fault. If you're using FireWire you'll have more power to make it work, or if you get a Y/twin tail adapter and use two USB ports it will work. If you're using a less power-hungry drive, it'll work just fine. Again, this is how electricity works, and Mac limitations haveโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Beautiful packaging
Cons
  • The list will be long.

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Very well designed case but no FW400 support in OS 9.

Marked because the FW800 controller used in this case doesn't work with OS 9 for some reason I contacted OWC and confirmed that this is the case. The workaround is to use an FW400 hub or device between your Mac and this case if you need to use it on OS 9. I understand that this is about 0.1% of the buyers of this product, so if you do NOT need to use it with an outdated equipment, this is a good buy. The case has a very high quality finish, and thanks to the transparent plastic, it's easy toโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Stylish and modern design
Cons
  • Long delivery time

Revainrating 5 out of 5

I love external hard drives

I am very impressed with the engineering and solid construction of this case. Obviously we've put a lot of thought into what end users want and expect, and this device really lives up to them. It has a thick aluminum heatsink, rubber feet, on/off switch, USB3 and FW800 cables, and a really nice faux leather case to store or carry the case. Not a particularly strong selling point per se, but I'll also add 5 cool points for looks. You can see your HD and some of the circuitry through itsโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Always loved
Cons
  • Slightly crumpled

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Failed external hard drives

I've had several of these and they were mostly fine. However, the latter felt a bit odd and was too narrow to fit the Samsung 850 EVO without pressing it firmly (into the aluminum bracket). Small production error? As a result, it turned out that the controller was also defective. After everything was installed and working, it later started to spontaneously disconnect from the USB. Double and triple checked everything, swapped out cables with known good ones, etc. No issues with the sameโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Good thing
Cons
  • I won't say anything

I have a 2011 iMac (i7), it's still a great beast! Too old for USB 3. I was using a Firewire 800, but the HD drive was slowing down and was never really good anyway. This drive enabled me to purchase a 500 gigabyte Samsung EVO Drive. Even with Firewire 800, this was an immediate improvement. I don't need to block tracks like I used to in Logic XI, I'd switch to a Thunderbolt 2 drive, but they're all so predatory! If you want the SSD version, you're better off having a Lazy Grand or more. Thisโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Looking forward to it
Cons
  • Cable is shorter than other options

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Works great on my computer and Xbox One X

So I bought two of these on separate occasions. The first was to use it as an external SSD to switch between my two music recording computers (Macbook and iMac). The second time I bought one of these was to install large/graphically heavy (long downloads) games onto an SSD for use on my Xbox One X. The device worked perfectly on both occasions. On my computers it was as easy as plug and play, with Xbox after a quick format with Xbox it was fully functional. The installation itself is a bitโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Certified
Cons
  • Good mostly but...

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Excellent External Enclosure

At first I had doubts about this drive judging from the pictures but I needed a USB3/FW800 external drive so I decided to buy it. However, after I received it and installed my hard drive, its performance is excellent. Also, it's pretty nice to be able to see exactly what drive is there without having to plug it in. This drive will beep quietly if the USB bus (from a hub or whatever) doesn't have enough power to power it, which is nice since you're not sitting around wondering if your drive isโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Done
Cons
  • Reliability

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Good build. Calm. Quickly.

After replacing my early 2011 MacBook Pro with a new SSD, I needed an enclosure for my old hard drive. Enclosures equipped with Thunderbolt were too expensive, so I looked for FireWire (FW) options and found this good 2.5 inch hard drive enclosure from OWC. It's almost entirely plastic, but feels pretty solid and I love the design, which is inspired by the old Mac G4. Adhesive feet raise the case just enough to dissipate heat from a huge heatsink attached to the underside of the hard driveโ€ฆ

Pros
  • Yummy
Cons
  • Not as good as it says