OWC Ships SSDs with SandForce SF-1232

By Kevin Parrish
published

OWC's Mercury Extreme Pro line uses the new SandForce SF-1232 processor.

Other World Computing (OWC) said (opens in new tab) Friday that its new line of internal SATA 2.5-inch Mercury Extreme Pro (opens in new tab) SSDs have officially launched. The SSDs will be the first to use the new SandForce SF-1232 processor which supports the largest SandForce-based SSD capacity to date--480GB. Prices range from $194.99 to $1,679.99, depending on the model.

OWC divided the Mercury Extreme Pro line into two groups: the "prosumer" and "enterprise level." For the former category, the "Pro" drives come in 60GB, 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB capacities. The enterprise-level, RAID-Ready "Pro RE" series consists of drives with 50GB, 100GB, 200GB, and 400GB capacities. All eight models are PC and Macintosh compatible, and will even fit into a desktop scenario by using an optional multi-mount adapter kit, sold separately.

"We’re quite pleased to be the first SSD maker to commence regular shipping of the largest capacity, performance leading SandForce-based processor SSD on the market," said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. "Now with models from 50GB to the new 480GB, our high performance Mercury Extreme Pro SSDs are available with capacity and price points for every type of Mac and PC user."

OWC said that the drives offer data rates up to 285MB/s, SandForce DuraClass technology with Ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling, ECC and SandForce RAISE technology, AES-128 encryption, and more. All eight models can be purchased directly from OWC here (opens in new tab).

Topics
Storage
25 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dogofwars
    A bit pricey for me.
    Reply
  • Simple11
    9223247 said:
    A bit pricey for me.

    Welcome to SSDs?
    Reply
  • lutel
    but will it blend ?
    Reply
  • Computerrock1
    Expensive
    Reply
  • grieve
    just gotta keep it on the wish list.. for now.
    Reply
  • grieve
    lutelbut will it blend ?I am certain is will
    Reply
  • meat81
    what is the expected life for these things. Hate to spend all that money knowing ssd's die a slow death. Is this still the case?
    Reply
  • mdillenbeck
    Yes they are expensive - but so were BD Burners, DVD Burners, CD Burners, HDD, and so on and so forth when they first came out. The question is do you need the kind of performance these would give?

    The more I read, the more I find that HD video editing benefits from source disks that can maintain their throughput speeds. Hard disks drop in performance while SSDs sustain their speeds. That is one scenario where these would benefit (and if you are willing to drop $3k to $150+k on a camera, what is a few thousand for some source drives).
    Reply
  • geofry
    I've got a pair of the orange 60gb (don't remember the model) OCZ SSDs in RAID 0 and they've been running pretty much non-stop in my main computer for a couple of years now, and they are still running fast. I leave BOINC running 24/7 in the winter (keeps the house warm) so they've seen some use.

    After 3 years I generally start looking for HD replacements and sell off my old stuff. I don't see them dying before then. I will most definitely be replacing them with updated drives (larger/faster) as I'd probably want to kill myself if I went back to slow and loud 10k spinners.
    Reply
  • mayne92
    I'm yet to buy into the SSD era...
    Reply