Expand storage with the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual 36TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 RAID Arrayfrom OWC. Designed to provide plenty of storage space for creative workflows, this 36TB RAID array features 18TB drives in dual drive bays. Utilizing a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 interface, this array is capable of transfer speeds up to 1250 MB/s. Hardware RAID control supports RAID 0, 1, SPAN, and JBOD modes.

Connect to accessories using a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports. A 60mm cooling fan ensures adequate thermal offloading, while a Kensington Lock slot can be used to secure the array. The Mercury Elite Pro Dual supports 2.5 and 3.5" drives and is bootable in macOS. Supported operating systems include Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, and iPadOS.

2 x 18TB 7200 rpm HDDs    Dual Drive Bays    USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 Interface    RAID 0, 1, SPAN, and JBOD    Hardware RAID Controller    1 x Cooling Fan    1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 Port    2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 Ports    Bootable in macOS    Windows, Mac, Linux & Chrome OS Support

Doubling the speed of its predecessor, USB 3.2 Gen 2 features a maximum throughput of 10 Gb/s when used with compatible devices and is synonymous with USB 3.1 Gen 2.

From high-demand production studios to your home office, the Mercury Elite Pro Dual integrates with any work environment. Dual drive bays let you install your choice of 2.5 or 3.5" SSDs or HDDs. Built-in hardware RAID gives you enhanced data protection or maximum throughput.

OWC's free Dock Ejector app lets you safely dismount the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual and any additional external drives connected to it from your computer in a single click. You'll be sure that all data has been safely written before any drive is unmounted, protecting against accidental data loss or corruption.

The Mercury Elite Pro Dual is compact and portable, leaving you more workspace. It connects to any Windows or Mac computer with an available USB port. You can also work cross-platform with Macs and Windows computers using OWC's MacDrive software, available separately.

Active workspaces expose gear to bumps, shoves, and the random tail wag from a pet. Just one ill-timed touch can cause an accidental cable disconnection, interrupting your workflow. Optional OWC ClingOn custom cable stabilizers screw into the housing to secure your USB Type-C connections so you can work with confidence even in the highest foot-traffic environments.

Get started right out of the box thanks to included USB Type-C and Type-C to A cables.

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. Does this come with a Thunderbolt cable?

A: Yes, the Thunderbolt cable is included, as well as a USB 3.0 cable.

Q: 2. Does this come with two hdds? What brand/model?

A: At this time we are shipping this with a pair of Toshiba 2TB drives.

Q: 3. I need a Hdrive for editing a doc project. Can this system, in RAID 0, handle editing in Davinci Resove?

A: There aren't any issues that I'm aware of, it should work well.

Q: 4. I have this drive array with smaller drives and I would like to replace them with larger drives. How would I do that? What specs do I need for the drives? How do I transfer data from the existing drives? How do I install the new drives? Many thanks!

A: You will need to backup the information to an external drive and use any larger capacity SATA III 3.5" Drives. You would use a checksum software which is great to have for large and critical files. This can check every bit of the transfer and provide verification. A checksum software to look into Hedge. Please see the link: https://hedge.video/hedge. One can technically transfer files/folders from the source to the new destination, but it is a nice safety measure to get verification at the end of the transfer. After backing up, install the new drives and build the RAID you want and transfer the data to the new drives. Also check the link below for the drive assembly instructions. https://www.owcdigital.com/assets/products/mercury-elite-pro-dual-thunderbolt/mep-dual-tb-usb-guide.pdf

Q: 5. What is the read/write speed?

A: 397 Read 389 Write via USB 3.1 using the AJA System Test.

Q: 6. Where is the power switch?

A: The power button is on the from (top left).

Q: 7. Is there any security such as password protection on this drive?

A: No, there are no built in security features.

Q: 8. What is the read/write speed of the new 3.2 Generation 2? It states in the description the transfer speed is 1250/MB/s. However, here in the question and answer it states the read write speed is only around 400mb/s/ Curious as to which one is accurate for the read/write speed actually is for the 3.2?

A: USB 3.2 gen 1 supports up to 10Gbps (1250MB/s). The read and write speed will depend on several factors including the drives being used and the RAID mode being used. OWC mentions how they got those numbers on their website: Up to 1026MB/s sequential read/write performance with 2 x 1.0TB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSDs in RAID 0 connected to a Windows 10 PC (GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD5 motherboard with 16GB RAM, Intel Core i5-6400 2.70GHz processor) running Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0x64 (1GB test size, Q8T1). Up to 567MB/s sequential read/write performance with 2 x 16.0TB Seagate Exos X16 HDDs I. RAID 0 connected to 15-inch MacBook Pro 2018 (MacBookPro15,1) with 16GB RAM and 2.2GHz processor running AJA System Test (4K-Full resolution, 64GB file size, 10bit RGB codec, single file test). Performance will vary depending on drives and application used.

Q: 9. When these drives are full, will I be able to put new drives in and continue to use the enclosure for a new Raid?

A: Yes, you can install new drives and create a new RAID volume.

Q: 10. I am looking for an external storage solution (just like this item) that i can plug into both my windows pc and mac laptop via usb, and just access the unit as a storage drive. Am looking to use it regularly to store my photography library (store all the photos and use adobe softwares using pictures that are on the external unit). Is this the best unit for this, or is a different unit recommended?

A: Ari,I can only speak to this unit. The Qx2 can be moved between platforms if properly configured, but you cannot have them plugged in simultaneously.