owc aura pro 6g vs apple ssd 2011 macbook air

The on/off switch is a very nice touch and something that’s not seen very often in 2.5″ enclosures. The back of the unit houses the USB 3.0 port, along with an on/off switch and optional power adaptor. The light is solid blue when the enclosure is on and blinks when the drive is being accessed. The front of the enclosure is vented and ribbed, and shows the tiny blue LED at the end of the PCB. If you’re afraid of scratching the case, OWC also includes a pouch for the enclosure which has plenty of storage room for the cable and other accessories as well. It will certainly stand up to road warrior use. Overall the enclosure feels very sturdy, with no flex even under extreme pressure. Being able to see the SSD inside adds a bit extra to the “cool factor,” it immediately reminded me of my first Swatch watch, which was clear plastic, showing all the parts inside. While not exactly necessary for this use, the slatted bottom does give the enclosure a bit more texture when handling the unit and adds to the clean, elegant look. The enclosure body is transparent acrylic all the way around, except for the cutout on the bottom for the aluminum heat sync. This is of course the first time it’s being used with their interface card though, which lets users get more life out of their stock MacBook Air SSD. It should be noted that the enclosure isn’t new for the MacBook Air SSD, OWC has sold this case for standard SATA drive use for some time. The card opens up new life for the sluggish SATA 3Gb/s SSD Apple uses when upgrading a MacBook Air to OWC’s Aura Pro Express 6G or their first generation Aura Pro Express SSD. The little PCB may not look like much, but it’s quite an innovation and it’s the only one that we know of on the market.

The biggest trick in getting these enclosures to market is that OWC had to design an interposer card to get from Apple’s proprietary SSD interface to standard SATA. The enclosure features an polycarbonate acrylic outer shell to deliver the style, with a USB 3.0 interface that’s Mac and PC friendly.

The Mercury On-The-Go is the first to hit our test bench. OWC has made good on the promise, releasing adaptations of two of their 2.5″ drive enclosures. When OWC made the first MacBook Air SSD replacement earlier this year, they vowed to also release an external storage solution so buyers who were upgrading could also use their old SSD for external storage.

Owc aura pro 6g vs apple ssd 2011 macbook air