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OWC Mercury Elite Pro RAID?

MacOG728893

MacOG728893

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
1,716
114
Orange County CA
Okay guys, I just want people's take on this from owners who have this or have owned in the past.

I do not have any specific questions, but I am extremely interested in picking this up and sticking my two 1TB HDD's that are lying around inside this thing.

I have done a search and this didn't help as you can see:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=14328430#post14328430

Any info wold be great, thanks!
 
I have one. Sample of one. My unit worked fine but I found the fan noise, hum and vibration to be objectionable. Ultimately, I stopped using it for that reason. I also have a Mercury Elite Al-Pro Qx2 which I have found to be quite good in terms of reliability and acoustics. That unit will take up to four drives and permit RAID 0, 1, and 5 using internal hardware settings. It is still in use and working fine.
 
wessew said:
I have one. Sample of one. My unit worked fine but I found the fan noise, hum and vibration to be objectionable. Ultimately, I stopped using it for that reason. I also have a Mercury Elite Al-Pro Qx2 which I have found to be quite good in terms of reliability and acoustics. That unit will take up to four drives and permit RAID 0, 1, and 5 using internal hardware settings. It is still in use and working fine.
Click to expand...

I am also looking into RAID solutions, and have a question for you.

I found two units, or maybe one unit with two different prices.

Can you tell me the difference between these two, other than price?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GBO/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/

Thanks
 
I use one and its a very convenient setup if you want multiple drives available in a single enclosure. But as you can see from my earlier post:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1325667/

I wouldn't recommend it if you need HW mirroring. Otherwise it's a nice setup if 2 drives is all you need in span or independant config.
 
wessew said:
I have one. Sample of one. My unit worked fine but I found the fan noise, hum and vibration to be objectionable. Ultimately, I stopped using it for that reason. I also have a Mercury Elite Al-Pro Qx2 which I have found to be quite good in terms of reliability and acoustics. That unit will take up to four drives and permit RAID 0, 1, and 5 using internal hardware settings. It is still in use and working fine.
Click to expand...

That's way too pricey for what I need, but thank you for the advice. So yay or nay?

marzer said:
I use one and its a very convenient setup if you want multiple drives available in a single enclosure. But as you can see from my earlier post:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1325667/

I wouldn't recommend it if you need HW mirroring. Otherwise it's a nice setup if 2 drives is all you need in span or independant config.
Click to expand...

So you think not using them in RAID is preferable?
 
MacOG728893 said:
So you think not using them in RAID is preferable?
Click to expand...

I would recommend using it in RAID0 or independent disk mode, but not the H/W RAID1. Without an indicator that a drive has failed, you would not know that a drive in the mirror set needs replacing.

If mirroring is your desired config, another option would be to configure it as independent drives and use the Mac OS X software RAID for mirroring. Performance would take a hit, but at least you would know when a drive in the set has failed.
 
RAID1 is intended for redundancy when zero downtime (or at least only scheduled downtime) is a must. Think about running a business with frequent transactions. Even without an indicator you could have a test time where you remove each of the drives and see if the unit functions. Note that you still need to make backups -- RAID is not a backup solution. It doesn't protect against accidental erasure, controller or power supply failure corrupting both drives, theft, fire, or natural disasters.
 
Agree. For mission critical RAID1 (or 5,10, etc.) is a must with reliable backups.

In my case, like the OP, I had a couple HD's sitting around the house that I wanted to reuse. Don't have any mission critical needs and can weather downtime, just want my data secured thru reliable backup.

The advantage of the Elite Pro Dual was a single enclosure, thereby minimizing cords and shelf space. In independant drive mode I can store the primary data on one drive and backup to the other, all in one convenient enclosure. If the enclosure fails it's no big deal having downtime to swap it for a new one.
 
marzer said:
In my case, like the OP, I had a couple HD's sitting around the house that I wanted to reuse. Don't have any mission critical needs and can weather downtime, just want my data secured thru reliable backup.

The advantage of the Elite Pro Dual was a single enclosure, thereby minimizing cords and shelf space. In independant drive mode I can store the primary data on one drive and backup to the other, all in one convenient enclosure. If the enclosure fails it's no big deal having downtime to swap it for a new one.
Click to expand...

Same comments about RAID1 apply to backing up one drive to another in the same enclosure, except you do get protection against accidental erasure. It doesn't protect against controller or power supply failure corrupting both drives, theft, fire, or natural disasters. I use a "toaster" with bare drives for off-site backups.

I've got this:
picture.php


which means I've also got this mess on the floor:
picture.php


So there is definitely something to be said for multiple drive enclosures! Only real downside I know of is they use tiny=noisy fans rather than being convection cooled.
 
marzer said:
I would recommend using it in RAID0 or independent disk mode, but not the H/W RAID1. Without an indicator that a drive has failed, you would not know that a drive in the mirror set needs replacing.

If mirroring is your desired config, another option would be to configure it as independent drives and use the Mac OS X software RAID for mirroring. Performance would take a hit, but at least you would know when a drive in the set has failed.
Click to expand...

Thank you everyone for the continuous advice and interest in this thread.

With that said, I am definitely thinking about putting this in RAID 0, but I am kind of concerned with negative response of how loud the fan noise is.

Can anyone chime in a little more on that?

Edit: Also, what is your take on OWC producing a thunderbolt version of this and possible pricing on that?
 
Last edited:
MacOG728893 said:
With that said, I am definitely thinking about putting this in RAID 0, but I am kind of concerned with negative response of how loud the fan noise is.

Can anyone chime in a little more on that?

Edit: Also, what is your take on OWC producing a thunderbolt version of this and possible pricing on that?
Click to expand...

I should point out that I don't have one, but understand they are noisy. The single drive housings they sell are silent (other than the drives themselves) and keep cool by radiating the drive heat through the aluminum housing.

OWC said last year they were looking at Thunderbolt, but as you know they haven't released a product. I wouldn't expect it to be inexpensive -- they don't sell cheap products.
 
talmy said:
I should point out that I don't have one, but understand they are noisy. The single drive housings they sell are silent (other than the drives themselves) and keep cool by radiating the drive heat through the aluminum housing.

OWC said last year they were looking at Thunderbolt, but as you know they haven't released a product. I wouldn't expect it to be inexpensive -- they don't sell cheap products.
Click to expand...

Yeah but if even if it were say between $150-$200 it would be worth it. I think I might hold out for that, the fan doesn't sound promising.
 
marzer said:
Without an indicator that a drive has failed, you would not know that a drive in the mirror set needs replacing.
Click to expand...

That is a concern of mine, so I downloaded the manual for this unit. It is not the one the OP was originally asking about, but this one does have individual drive failure lights.

harcosparky said:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEQX2KIT0GB/[/url]
Click to expand...

However the failed drive lights are on the back of the unit ....

owc_qx2_gall2.jpg



I would also add, that if you are using your system for income related work, and you cannot afford to have the system not working for a few days, it would be wise to have two of these units on site. In case of failure of the controller or unit itself, you will have a backup one to immediately put in service.



.
 
Elite Pro Q,2

I have 3 of these, they are very reliable but :

- relatively noisy, fans are louder than my Mac Pro's,
- will not work properly if used with the two "extra" sata ports on a Mac pro
- no user software to interact with the units to speak of,
- the front leds will tell you which drive has supposedly failed but more than once, I just pull the "bad" drive out, erase, insert it back and it's good to go.

Obviously the latter is with drives that are theoretically still sound, not four years old stuff :)
 
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