SCSI Ultra Wide - Is it worth it?

[jacksco]

I have an apaptec 3940UW SCSI card. Unfortunately the SCSI drive I got with it now is bad. I'd like to set up this card w/ another 10K SCSI drive and use it as my boot drive to hold my windows install. Will this give me a noticeable boost in performance given the UtraWide tops out at only 40MB/s? I also have to consider I'd be dropping $100-200 for another SCSI drive. . . . opinions? Stick w/ my ATA-100 drives and sell the card? Keep the card and buy a new SCSI drive?

 

[Jen]

i use all scsi based system with a 2940 u2w card...........to me the speed is very fast . some will say IDE is all you need in most cases maybe it is



Jen

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

it just depends on whether you are willing to spend the $$$. it will definitely be faster but SCSI will cost ya.

 

[guzik]

If you don't do multiple simultaneous read/writes (you don't plan to use it for server),
and don't need extreme speeds (video streams etc.) go with IDE drives.
You can leave your controller for SCSI CD-RW and DVD-R drives, so those won't tax your CPU like their IDE counterparts and don't clog your IDE bus.
If you plan fast RAID solutions, especially RAID 5 - go for SCSI but it'll cost you a lot.
Btw if you look hard you can find nice deals for SCSI drives.
I ordered few days ago couple of 9.1G 2UW 10k IBM drives with 4M buffer for $50 a piece to set OS on RAID 1 (mirror).

 

[jacksco]

Where did you find drives that inexpensive? If I can pick up a 10K drive (any size >4 GB) for that price, it would be worth it to me.

Thanks for everyones input.

 

[BurnItDwn]

You can get 4.5GB 10K Rpm drives on E-&ay for like 15 bucks, usually they are SCA so you need the adaptors, but they are pretty cheap

 

[jacksco]

Excuse my ignorance but what is SCA? I've been searching for drives w/ a 68-pin interface. Thanks for the tip, I'll check ebay.

So what are the advantages of the 3940 over the 2940?

 

[Colt45]

sca is scsi interface with 80pins, it has no molex power plug though, power part of the 80pins.
its designed for hot swap, but you can get an adpater so you can plug a 68pin cable and a molex power plug into it.

 

[jacksco]

Does this adapter effect performance? Is it expensive?

 

[astroview]

I've heard that the adapter can cause stability issues. If I were you I'd see if www.storagereview.com had any more info (the site is closing down soon so it might not)

 

[guzik]

I ordered them from computergiants.com. They're 68 pin.
link
It's my first order from these guys, can't say anything about their reliability.
Placed order on monday, got confirmation and still wait for delivery, hopefully drives will arrive tomorrow.
I put 4 18G 10k/160 drives into RAID 5 for applications and data, 80G IDE for archive and tried to run my OS off Promise FastTrak with two mirrored 6.4G IDE drives, but couldn't make the system to boot from IDE array (?), thus decided to put OS on SCSI array.
Above improvements cost me a lot of money. There are no cheap SCSI solutions. You pay more not just for speed, as speed of single IDE drive is on par with SCSI, you pay for reliability and flexibility (more array options, adding new drives instead of replacing old ones as you can install 31+ devices instead of 4).

 

[mastertech01]

IMHO in your situation I would keep the SCSI controller just in case you decide to buy a nice SCSI CDROM/RW/DVD etc, and stick with the IDE setup. Unless you are prepared to spend a lot of money on a real raid controller and high tech hard drives, or need the flexiblity of running like 10 drives in your system, the average Joe just needs what you have already.

Im running a 29160, an ATTO raid controller, a 2940UA, and 10 drives, a scanner, Jaz, and Zip off of SCSI.. Unless you are going that nuts with SCSI you are fine right where you are. Some of us just go insane with SCSI A single UW hdd or even a few UW raided would not compare to your U100 especially if yours are raided. Again IMHO.

 

[jacksco]

Alright, so what I'm hearing is that I'm not going to get a huge, if at all, performance increase from a UW SCSI HD over my ATA-100 drives. What would benefit me would be to use the controller for DVD / CDRW. The benefit would be decreased CPU usage and reducing contention for the IDE bus (if I had one of these drive on a channel w/ a HD) Are there any screaming reasons I should replace my current IDE 12x burner or 50x CD-ROM?

 

[mastertech01]

Not if they work to your expectations. If you burn with no problems without having to shut down every running program, then you will be fine. SCSI multitasking allows you to do things while you burn. Much of the older problems with IDE has been helped with Burnproof these days

 

[Pabster]

As usual, if you have the money, by all means. You can't go wrong with a SCSI disk subsystem. It's also a superior interface for other (external) peripherals.

You should look at your needs first, however. For the typical user, it is overkill. But for a power freak (like me), I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[OutHouse]

if you can afford it get it. you will not belive how fast a 15K drive is until you see it in action.

 

[jacksco]

Ok, bit of a twist to the story, I checked the drive (the one that was bad) and it was still under warranty, so if all goes smooth the drive will be replaced. So, considering the 3940 and 10K drive will cost me $0 does this change anyone's opinion? I'm going to run the OS off this or a 80GB WD 7200RPM drive (not sharing the IDE channel w/ another device).

 

[QTPie]

My PC has U2W SCSI with 9.1GB HDDs (a 10K and a 7.2K) and a 40GB IDE 7200 RPM.
I installed win2k NTSF in EACH drive and compared the performance. It is not much different. You almost wouldn't notice.
If you have win2k in NTSF, IDE HDD is fast enough for regular usage (not in server environment.)
Don't waste money for SCSI HDD. Old SCSI drive is cheap but has more disk platters due to low density (MB/sq. in.), old technology. New IDE drives have been improving lately. Some new HDD models have high density (up to 80MB/disk) Of course, IDE is slower than SCSI when you're comparing the SAME GENERATION. But new SCSI will cost you a fortune.
Keep your SCSI card for furture use with CD-ROM, DVD, Jaz, Zip, etc.

 

[jacksco]

Thanks QTPie, good feedback.