OWC To Ship Shortly 480GB 6Gb SATA SSD ($1,280)

Other World Computing (OWC) is increasing production of its SandForce Driven OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD line in 120GB and 240GB capacities to meet consumer and retailer volume deliveries.

The 480GB capacity model is expected to begin shipping in volume within ten days. By utilizing the SandForce 2200 series processors, OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSDs offer consumers and prosumers a package of high performance and reliability backed by five year warranty.  

SandForce: When Only The Best Will Do
Ordinary SSDs offer fast read/write performance during first initial uses, but can then experience significant write speed degradation over repeated, long-term usage. Utilizing SandForce processors, OWC Mercury series SSDs benefit from efficient Block Management, Wear Leveling technologies, and real-time data redundancies to enable high performance and reliability, both of which are maintained over the long life of the product.

Speed doesn’t matter if it can comprise data integrity. Thanks to SandForce DuraClass technology, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G is able to provide up to 100X higher data protection than provided by ordinary SSDs as well as leading enterprise class hard disk drives. By combining Error Correction Code (ECC) and SandForce RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology along with 7% over provisioning, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G provides RAID like data protection and reliability.

"We truly appreciate SandForce as a valued partner and their contributions in helping establish OWC as the most comprehensive U.S. manufacturer of industry leading SandForce processor based SSDs," said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. "It’s just an awesome processor and I’m glad we took the appropriate time to develop our 6G line, thus ensuring the ongoing quality, performance, and reliability reputation synonymous with OWC products for the past 23 years."

Quality Components
The OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G is designed and built in the USA with the quality components and engineering processes available for best utilization of the performance SandForce processors deliver. Only Tier 1/Grade A NAND components are used in OWC Mercury series SSDs. The Synchronous NAND utilized in OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G provides the highest sustained data rates delivered by an SSD today.

"I know choices in engineering design and component utilization make a substantial difference in both short and long term performance and reliability. SandForce has provided us with an exceptional processor and we’re proud to have it at the core of the exceptional SSD line-up we’ve designed and built in the U.S.," said O’Connor. "There is a difference, which has been noted enthusiastically by both end user reviews as well as professional media reviews, neither of which have reported any ‘bluescreen’ issues experienced with other brands."

Benchmark Expert Tested To Nearly 3,000MB/s
Noted benchmark performance testing site Barefeats.com recently tested eight OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSDs configured in a RAID 0 configuration installed via the NewerTech AdaptaDrive 2.5" to 3.5" Drive Converter Bracket in a Stardom ST8-U5 8-bay mini-SAS drive enclosure connected to a RocketRAID 2744 SAS RAID controller. The OWC SSDs were subjected to the most demanding drive intensive testing routines available: QuickBench, DiskTester, Kona System Test, and Black Magic Disk Speed Test. The tests revealed sequential read speeds as high as 2,976MB/s (3.0GB/s) and writes speeds as high as 2,386MB/s write (2.4GB/s). With these speeds, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G is for applications like HD video editing because it delivers speeds well in excess of suggested rates to avoid dropping frames when capturing footage or during playback.

Three Capacity Models Available
For use in demanding performance-intensive applications such as Audio/Video editing, HD-video, digital photography, professional music, and graphics, the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G line is qualified for use in consumer/prosumer single drive production workstations as well as multi-drive RAID 0/1/10/SPAN configurations and is available in the following capacities:

• OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G 120GB $294.99
• OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G 240GB $549.99
• OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G 480GB $1279.99