OWC did it again

As if being the first and only vendor that offers the largest pocket-size external hard drive, wasn't enough, OWC announced today the first 320GB external had drive that runs at 7,200rpm, the Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7,200rpm. This is actually not the first high-speed compact external hard drive (and definitely not one with the most creative name, either), but it is the first that offers 320GB of storage space. The first 7,200rpm portable hard drive is the G-Tech G-Drive, the rest of compact external drives spin at only 5,400rpm.

The new OWC Mercury is not only large but spins very fast, too.

(Credit: OWC)

The new Mercury On-The-Go drive has the exact same design as the 500GB 5,400rpm model that came out just a few months ago. However, apart from the version that features USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800 connections, it also comes with a version that features just USB 2.0 and another that features USB 2.0 and eSATA. All of these connections, except for the eSATA, are bus-powered. With all these different variations, the Mecury On-The-Go is also the only drive that offers the most choices regarding to connection and also the first that implements eSATA in a compact portable hard drive.

The new drive uses Hitachi's latest 7K320 hard drive, which is currently the largest 2.5-inch internal hard drive that runs at 7,200rpm.

The Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200rpm is preformatted for MAC but can be reformatted to work with Windows. It comes with Prosoft DataRescue III (OS X), and NovaStor NovaBackup (Windows) as software back solution. The drive is compatible with a wide range of Mac (8.5 or newer) and Windows (Windows 98 or newer) operating systems.

You can get the new high-speed Mercury On-The-Go now with the prices ranging from $240 (USB 2.0 only version) to $280 (USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 versions), which is a great deal considering the fact the G-Drive costs about the same but offers only 200GB of storage.