Help me choose the proper SCSI card...

[AU Tiger]

I have been wanting to go totally SCSI for almost a year. Currently I am running a Plextor burner, Plextor cdrom, and Toshiba DVD drive off an old Adaptec 2930 card. I just picked up a Seagate Barracuda 18XL 18.4GB drive (7200 RPM, Ultra 160, 68-pin) for cheap and was wanting to add it to my system. I am trying to decide between a Tekram DC390-U2W or going ahead and getting something like an Adaptec 29160N or Tekram DC390-U3W card.

If I bought the retail DC390-U2W kit what other connectors/cables would I need to connect a Ultra 160 drive to the cards 68-pin connector? The kit comes with a 68-pin LVD cable.
Thanks.

 

[rmblam]

I have the DC-390U3W and I have been nothing but pleased.

The kit basically comes with everything you need.

The 68 pin cable will connect directly to the 68 pin connector on the drive.

I assume the other drives have 50 pin connectors for Wide? My Plextor does.

That cable comes with the kit also.

 

[JC]

Get either the Tekram U3W or the 29160....both have 68-pin U160 for your HD, and 50-pin for your other drives. As far as using a U2W card, you can connect your 68-pin U160
HD to it but it will only run at U2 speed (80MB/s) rather than U160 speed. But you likely wouldn't notice the difference anyway. So if you can get a deal on a U2W, I say go for it.

rmblam- 50-pin connectors for wide? Wide are 68-pin....50-pin are narrow 😉

JC

 

[AU Tiger]

I think I am going to go with the DC-390U3W or 29160N in case I decide to get more SCSI hard drives in the future.

 

[ucla88]

if you're paying retail, get the u160 version.
on the other hand, if you can get a u2w on the cheap, like you did for your seagate, go for it.
(the str's on the seagate aren't cutting edge) you could put a cutting edge 10k on the same channel and not saturate the 80MB/s channel.

you will get much more performance out of a current generation hdd and an old controller(u2w at least) than the other way around.