Other World Computing (OWC) has expanded its already impressive Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini portable hardware-RAID storage product line with two new 3.0TB models, available as 3.0TB RAID-1 (for robust data protection) or 3.0TB RAID-0 (for maximum performance).

This bus-powered (no AC adapter is required) unit stores data safely using RAID technology -- or even more data with "super-fast" access. Featuring hardware RAID-1 (mirrored) redundancy for data protection or RAID-0 (striped) for maximum throughput, the Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini contains two 2.5-inch hard drives or OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSDs for up to 3TB of capacity. A "quad interface" of FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA connections delivers data transfer speeds of up to 300MB/s with Mac and PC computers.

Why it’s cool: it's a great portable storage solution for professional users. Lightweight, bus-powered, and impact-resistant, in a 5.6 x 6.1 x 1.1 inch brushed aluminum enclosure with near silent, fanless operation, the Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini fits easily into laptop, photography, and other gear bags because of its side-by-side drive orientation. Fast, hardware-RAID technology is ideal for demanding data storage and backup needs, and can be configured with either high-performance hard disks or SSDs.

The new 3.0TB Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini models are priced atUS$359.99, and join a line-up that includes hard disk options with speeds of up to 7200RPM and SSDs with eSATA speeds. Pricing starts at US$191.99 for a 640GB 7200RPM unit, with 32MB buffer. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/479ckvd .