SCSI CD burners

[artemedes]

Hi guys and gals,

I am thinking about replacing my old yamaha 4416s burner, it has been faithful and only burned coasters when I did something stupid. Anyway, I am wanting to replace it with a newer faster model. I have read a couple of review sites and think the Plextor 1210S is a decent choice. I was just wondering if you can give some feedback and/or recommendations.

Please keep in mind I really want a SCSI drive, and don't want to spend more than say 200 dollars. Thanks.

 

[Hanpan]

I would definatly go for the plextor 12/10/32s. that is if you want scsi. However you should re-evaluate why you want scsi as you can get a nice 16x or better plextor for close to if not less than the same price.

 

[artemedes]

I want a SCSI, cause I have two SCSI cards that will support it. I really like how scsi devices each have their own bus master on board. IDE burners are probably getting better, but it just seems to me that since i already have the cards, why not take advantage of the lower cpu usage.

I realize I could save some money by going IDE, but in the past I have found scsi devices to be of better quality. I bought a scsi zip drive years ago, still works, whereas my dad and freinds have had their non scsi zip drives fail by now. I bought a scsi flatbed scanner, my dad and a friend bought usb scanners. Mine still works, niether of theirs does. You get what you pay for i guess.

 

[Sundog]

Like Hanpan said. Then go for a 12/10/32S Plextor. I haven't made a single coaster yet, and have had two of them thanks to Rob.

Great drives!

 

[TunaBoo]

if I stuck some scsi CD-RW's on a Scsi2 chan. with 15kRPM drives, would it hurt anything? Only SCSI cards I could afford are single chan.

 

[dowxp]

i think only adaptec can recognize drive speed. otherwise, the slowest device will be your maximum speed

 

[TunaBoo]

<< i think only adaptec can recognize drive speed. otherwise, the slowest device will be your maximum speed >>



I heard thats a false rumor. Anyone else?

If its true, whats a good low cost U2 PCI adapter with 2 chans? Scsi3 is worthless for me, 80MB/Sec is enough

 

[SCSIRAID]

Thats an urban legend bang.... The SCSI Initiator (controller) negotiates the transfer rate with each target (drive/device etc) individually. The only complication is LVD or non LVD. If you mix signalling types the whole bus drops back to non LVD which has a max rate of 40MB/sec in wide 16 bit mode and 20MB/sec narrow 8 bit mode. Each device will still negotiate its own rate but the max will be 40 or 20 MB/sec. If your CD's are NON LVD (aka open drain or single ended) then I would not mix them with LVD harddrives if you want the best performance.

Adaptec had a nice little card in the 2940 series (I think) that was a single channel Ultra 2 that had a 'repeater' (aka expander) which created a non-LVD bus for CD's and such. This would allow LVD harddrives and nonLVD other stuff to coexist on the same logical bus.

 

[TunaBoo]

Without going adaptec, any 2 chan. u2 scsi cards that are good?

 

[SCSIRAID]

tekram.... uses LSI (aka Symbios) 895 or 1010 parts....

 

[dowxp]

i know nothing!

 

[Woodie]

Heck, I've got a little PCI, one-channel that would be great! Cheap too

Also, if you have a 2-channel, you should be able to run your HDs on one channel, and the CD's on the other, with no performance hit to the HDs.

--Woodie

 

[TunaBoo]

<< Heck, I've got a little PCI, one-channel that would be great! Cheap too

Also, if you have a 2-channel, you should be able to run your HDs on one channel, and the CD's on the other, with no performance hit to the HDs.

--Woodie >>



For non-SCSI Raid, is there really a point for SCSI3? I mean how fast does a 15k RPM drive peak and sustain at, over 80 MB/sec?

 

[SCSIRAID]

Tunaboo...

Good question... Its pure marketing... Drives just dont go that fast today. RAID 0 configs could push the data rate up but that again is not typical.... Commercial workload for servers doesnt even drive that kind of data rate (U160 or U320 or God Forbid! U640). That workload is more random small block where you spend more time seeking and spinning than transferring data. There ARE specialized applications that can reap the benefits of higher bandwidth (video edit... etc).

That said... I still agree with Woodie.. I would separate the CD's and HDD's. The CD's go real sllloooooooww (8MB/sec for my Yamaha 4-4-16) and will waste a lot of that 40MB/sec max (Ultra since it is not LVD)(dont assume that it means. Drives DO go faster that Ultra. LVD really cleans up the signals too.

 

[TunaBoo]

<< Tunaboo...

Good question... Its pure marketing... Drives just dont go that fast today. RAID 0 configs could push the data rate up but that again is not typical.... Commercial workload for servers doesnt even drive that kind of data rate (U160 or U320 or God Forbid! U640). That workload is more random small block where you spend more time seeking and spinning than transferring data. There ARE specialized applications that can reap the benefits of higher bandwidth (video edit... etc).

That said... I still agree with Woodie.. I would separate the CD's and HDD's. The CD's go real sllloooooooww (8MB/sec for my Yamaha 4-4-16) and will waste a lot of that 40MB/sec max (Ultra since it is not LVD)(dont assume that it means. Drives DO go faster that Ultra. LVD really cleans up the signals too. >>



Cool! But didnt give me an adaptor to use, hehe. Anything but adaptec.

 

[TunaBoo]

Tekram DC-390U2W is looking really nice. It has 2 68 pin and 1 50 pin internal channels, is this possible? 4 total chans? err

 

[Hard_Boiled]

It's just 1 channel, your confusing terminology. I would call them segments or something else. Take the Tekram DC-390U3D, it is a dual channel card capable of handling 30 devices. But back to the DC-390U2W, I use this card myself. You'll see on their page for this product that it says it allows all devices to operate at full speed with no degredation of performance. I have 2 hard drives hooked up to the LVD connector and a cd burner on the 50 pin connector, everything runs fine. Hard drives are at 80 MB/s just like they should be.

edit: almost forgot about the topic of the thread. Thumbs up on the 12/10/32S for a SCSI burner, it has worked great for me. Of course for a little more Yamaha does have a 16X.

 

[TunaBoo]

<< It's just 1 channel, your confusing terminology. I would call them segments or something else. Take the Tekram DC-390U3D, it is a dual channel card capable of handling 30 devices. But back to the DC-390U2W, I use this card myself. You'll see on their page for this product that it says it allows all devices to operate at full speed with no degredation of performance. I have 2 hard drives hooked up to the LVD connector and a cd burner on the 50 pin connector, everything runs fine. Hard drives are at 80 MB/s just like they should be.

edit: almost forgot about the topic of the thread. Thumbs up on the 12/10/32S for a SCSI burner, it has worked great for me. Of course for a little more Yamaha does have a 16X. >>



Ok I gotcha. The DC-390U3W has 2 chans, 1 68 and 1 50, while the DC-390U3D has 2 68 pins. Gotchas.

 

[SCSIRAID]

That card is the Tekram version (390U2W) of the Adaptec one I mentioned. It uses a single channel LSI 53C895 and a repeater (LSI 53C141). The repeater (aka expander) creates a private bus segment off of the channel. To realize their claim of all devices running at their full speed... you must put only LVD devices off of the connector closest to the IO bracket (that is the bus from the 895) and the single ended devices on the 68 and 50 pin connectors that are on top of one another (that is the isolated segment created by the repeater). Sounds like just what you wanted.....