Later this year, Other World Computing plans to release a 3.5" SSD drive meant for tower-style PCs like the Mac Pro. The drive, called the "Mercury Viper", will allow OWC to build an SSD with capacities as large as 2TB, as well as transfer rates over 600MB/s over a SATA 3 connection.

Owcssd
Currently, OWC makes 2.5" SSD's that can be installed in a laptop or desktop via a bracket, but the extra space in a 3.5" drive allow for four times the capacity as their current drives -- at a significant cost. A OWC spokesperson told Ars Technica that the drive was designed "performance and capacity, not price".

That's in stark contrast to where the rest of the market is headed, typically driving costs down and making the most of 2.5" and mSATA form factors used in notebooks and Ultrabooks. But workstation may care less about budget and more about getting work done. "We think the price will be right for the kind of user that spends $6,000 on a computer," Dahlke said. "And you can't get this kind of capacity anywhere else."

Pricing and availability details are expected in March.

(Image courtesy Ars Technica/Chris Foresman)

Top Rated Comments

djepsilon Avatar
160 months ago
Now if only there was a new MacPro to put said drive into!
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dwalls90 Avatar
160 months ago
It's essentially 4x512Gb SSDs... No way this is cheaper than $2,000, I'd say even closer to $3,000
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
All Taken Avatar
160 months ago
true, doesn't mean I have to like it though, does it?

Given your location I'd say it's imperative that you do like it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Retrofire Avatar
160 months ago
If you're that one person in the world who uses a workstation with his head stuck in the enclosure instead of looking at the screen, yes
That is my normal working position. ;-)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dlastmango Avatar
160 months ago
Dang! I want.. But probably can't afford
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nsayer Avatar
160 months ago
Towards a new storage architecture

I've currently got a 5Big Network 2 configured for RAID 6. I did this because I wanted to not have to worry about individual or even two drive failures.

But the idea of large SSD modules seems wrong-headed to me.

Building large capacity rotating drives makes sense because a rather large fraction of the cost of the device is the storage infrastructure rather than the storage medium itself.

Flash storage turns that on its head. The vast majority of the cost is the storage medium itself.

What I want to see is a NAS that looks a bit like the inside of HAL-9000 - a large number of relatively small flash modules, each easily field-replaceable.

In order to make this a reality, what I think is necessary is a new, cheap, simple interface standard for flash memory modules. Groups of these modules could be grouped together behind a single SATA controller for an eSATA flash "JBOD" style enclosure, or a larger number of them could be RAIDed for a NAS.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight

Tuesday April 1, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs. Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...
iOS 18

Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.5 to Developers

Wednesday April 2, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming just two days after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. We don't yet know what Apple is introducing in the iOS 18.5...