Bought new MacbookPro, will OWC Mercury On-The-Go work as a portable record drive?

[Nave128]

Hi there,

I just ordered a new MBP 15" 2.0 gHz i7 quad-core model with the 8 gb of RAM. I don't see a point in getting a 7200 RPM drive internal to try and use as audio/record drive. No matter what, I never dig using system drive as audio drive. So I was about to order the OWC Mercury On-The-Go because it's bus-powered and also can get a dc adapter if I wanna power it. However, just as I go to order it, I see that the chipset in these is now Oxford 943. I don't see that as an approved chipset on the drive requirements:

External Drives
( Avastor HDX/SDX or OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™ drives recommended for best performance )

* eSATA
* USB 2.0 (Windows Only)
* FireWire (Mac Only) with FireWire interface using these chipsets:
o Oxford 934 - FW 400
o Oxford 924 - FW 400
o Oxford 924 - FW 800
o Oxford 911 - FW 400
o Oxford 912 - FW 400
o Oxford 912 - FW 800

So does anyone have any experience using this drive with PT9? I was wondering about its performance both because of the chipset issue and the bus-powered issue. Does working off of a bus-powered drive for sound editing sessions to picture operate fairly well? This will just be a setup for on the go editing and recording.

Thanks in advance.

E

[joe.cavers]

I've used a Mercury-on-the-go drive for years now with various combinations of the following gear:

Macbook
Macbook Pro
iMac (current)

and

Digi 002
Mbox 2
Mbox Micro
Echo Audiofire 2
Echo Audiofire 8 (current)

Currently, from the one FW800 port on my iMac, it goes:

iMac -> OWC Drive -> Echo Audiofire 8

Never had a problem opening any sessions in Pro Tools, Logic or Live and never had any problems opening Pro Tools sessions either here or on any of the University computers running PT.

Couldn't recommend these drives more. Just wish they had a UK distributer!
Hope this helps.

Joe

[SixChurchStreet]

OWC stuff is great. Enjoy the drive.

[Jordan Jesse]

I use the OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro day in and day out for over a year, never had a problem with the drive.

[Nave128]

Thanks for the replies guys. I went ahead and ordered the owc mercury elite al-pro mini. I am sure it will also be a great purchase. The non-mini version comes highly reccommended so I assume the mini will do a top job as well.

Cheers,
E

[SixChurchStreet]

Originally Posted by Nave128

Thanks for the replies guys. I went ahead and ordered the owc mercury elite al-pro mini. I am sure it will also be a great purchase. The non-mini version comes highly reccommended so I assume the mini will do a top job as well.

Cheers,
E

I run the full size OWC and a mini G-Drive (which is very similar to the OWC mini). I use them both interchangeably.