Pros
- Fast FireWire 800
- Cables included
- Timemachine ready
- Packed with tons of software
- Quality build
Cons
- eSATA requires an external power source
- eSATA performance disappointing
The Bottom Line
OWC’s Mercury Elite line is a fantastic place to find quality and speedy accessories for your Mac or Windows box and this portable hard drive is not exception. Even though the eSATA figures didn’t impress as they should have, truth is, this a portable device that will encounter more FireWire and USB than eSATA which nearly negates the offense. You will not be disappointed slipping this hard drive into your pocket.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
The OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini is fitted with a “Quad Interface” on the back that runs off the bus power of your FireWire or USB ports. OWC packed everything you’ll need in the box including high quality double shielded USB, FireWire 800, and eSATA cables. You will also find a DVD-ROM packed with Intech’s SpeedTools, Prosoft Engineering’s Data Backup for OS X, NovaStorBACKUP for Windows, Carbon Copy Cloner – a favorite of mine – and over 2 GB of other goodies. Inside the slick “aircraft grade machined aluminum enclosure” of the Mercury one would find a 2.5″ SATA hard drive (OWC also offers solid state drives), a translucent blue activity LED, an ultra-protective shock system, and ports for connecting the mini to your computer. You will not find a fan in the super quiet unit since OWC uses the enclosure to rid the unit of heat build up from either the 5400 or 7200 RPM drives. When attached to your computer, instead of the standard OS icon, you’ll see a picture replica of the OWC Mercury Elite AL Pro mini – that’s a mouthful – on your desktop. Ya, between the blue LED and that, it makes the Mercury just that much cooler. 
Ratings
Pros
- Plethora of supported interfaces
- Supports any modern hard drive
- Sleek looking
- Drop-in hard drive mount
Cons
- No tactical indicator of successful drive mount
- Price is a bit high
The Bottom Line
If you’re like many in todays modern techno-family, then you have extra hard drives lying around your home. Additionally, with the low cost of hard drives today, there really is no reason not to have extras for archive purposes. Either way, NewerTech’s Voyager Q allows you immediate access to your data without any work other than dropping the drive into the Qs bay and double clicking an icon on your Desktop. Instant access with more ways to connect to your hard drive than James Bond ever associated with his Q.
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
Hard drives liter my draws, cabinets, and desk. They’re every where. Some are archived drives and others retired ones. Needless to say, accessing anything on them has required some work in the past with either mounting them internally in a PC or in an enclosure. Yes, there’s also many variants of the SATA/IDE to USB set-ups that can be used, too, but man, what a mess of cables that is. Thankfully, the folks at NewerTech live like me and desire a nice easy, clean, way of data retrieval. The Voyager Q has landed on my desk and what a relief it has provided. Can it offer your scrap pile of metal, platters, and silicon reprieve as well?