Switch to SCSI?

[Scootin159]

I want to switch to SCSI, but was wondering what will it cost me

Here's what I have to sell:

8x Plextor CD-RW (IDE)
12x Toshiba DVD-ROM (IDE)
72x Kenwood CD-ROM (IDE)
2x IBM 30GB 75GXP (ATA/100)


Here is what I will need:

SCSI 160 RAID Card
2x 36GB 15k rpm Segate HDD's
SCSI CD-RW (>8x)
SCSI DVD-ROM (>12x)
SCSI CD-ROM
Round U160 SCSI Cable
Round 50-pin SCSI Cable

I'm not sure about selling the DVD for a SCSI derivitive, but I would definitly like a SCSI CD-ROM (like one of those Plextor SCSI Drives).

I'm also not sure about going with a SCSI RAID Card, as I have no idea how much the RAID function adds to the cost (and 1x 15k rpm drive will be faster than my 2x 30gb IDE in 90% of what I do).

I'm trying to come as close as possible to breaking even. Am I shoooting too high? Could you give me some #'s here? Thanks.

 

[Pabster]

Scootin159 wrote:

"I'm trying to come as close as possible to breaking even."

No offense, but you'd have a tough time getting an 18.4GB X15-36LP with the profits off selling what you listed -- let alone a set of 36.7GB's and all that other SCSI goodness

SCSI's great and I highly recommend the switch, but be prepared to spend. You might consider, perhaps, Quantum Atlas 10K III's instead.

 

[Scootin159]

How much more is it going to be though?

A rough guess in my head gives me these figures:

CD-RW = + $100
CD-ROM = + $75
DVD-ROM = +$100
HDD's = +$300 = ($150/each?)
ZIP100 = +$25
___________________________
$600 to work with


And then I would need:

15k rpm SCSI Drive = $xxx/each (how many depends on cost)
SCSI CD-RW = $xxx
SCSI DVD-ROM = $xxx
SCSI Card = $xxx

My guess is collum #2 is less than $1000, but I have no idea, you guys know?
I would keep my current

 

[Smbu]

Maybe you should check out Hypermicro for some examples of SCSI pricing.

Here is one example of a top of the line 36gb Seagate Cheetah X15-36LP hd:


<< Seagate Cheetah X15 36LP, 36.7 GB, Ultra160 Wide LVD SCSI-3, 15,000 RPM, 3.6 ms seek, 8 MB cache, A/V rated, 3.5" LP, 68 pin interface, 5-year warranty. $549.00 >>



Also I highly doubt you'll get $600 for all of your stuff that you are selling.

 

[Scootin159]

dang those things are madd expensive

Ok, what if we try 10,000rpm drives.

 

[kindlr]

CD-RW = + $50, its slow, the name will only make up for so much
CD-ROM = + $75 maybe, its only a CD-ROM drive though
DVD-ROM = +$50 given that theres a lite-on 16x for 60$
HDD's = +$120 = ($60/each?) 80 wlil get 40gb drives, and 75gxp's fail a lot
ZIP100 = +$25 ok

 

[Jgtdragon]

SCSI is awesome, but you will really PAID. LOL
Better ready to folk out some serious cash or maybe you can get some hookup if lucky.

 

[Scootin159]

<< CD-RW = + $50, its slow, the name will only make up for so much
CD-ROM = + $75 maybe, its only a CD-ROM drive though
DVD-ROM = +$50 given that theres a lite-on 16x for 60$
HDD's = +$120 = ($60/each?) 80 wlil get 40gb drives, and 75gxp's fail a lot
ZIP100 = +$25 ok >>



Actually I probably could hit those prices (selling to friends who don't know what a IBM 75gxp is, much less it's reliability). You're probably right about the DVD-ROM though, $100 was pretty high for it. If SCSI HDD's are gonna be $300/each though I don't see how it matters anyways. I think the point is that it can't be done at a reasonable cost.

 

[Goosemaster]

Yes it can..well sort of anyway.

Everyones mistake seems to be focusing on the cheetahs. Don't get me wrong, I think they are the greatest, but they are out of mostly everyone's league.


Look at my system. I am using a Quantum(now Maxtor in name only) 10kII 10,000rpm HD that will slaughter any ide drive based system.
Recently I saw the 10KIII drive for a bout $135 which is a stellar price. THis drive can do about 55MBps sustained on the outer ring, and has excellent seek times. Pair that with a nice u160 card for upgradability or an Ultra2 wide card for value.

Cheetahs are for the rich and fast. I am not rich. BUt I AM fast.

Check out hypermico.com...great deals. IF you go to storagereview.com and follow the link you get a discount..at least it used to be that way.


Good luck. PM me for any questions if you like.

 

[Scootin159]

$135 for a drive? That seems much more like it. What capacity are these drives (not that it matters because I will only use about 10gb of it when you figure in the role it will play (I will still have my 160GB archiving array), but just for cuiriosities sake).

How much is a U160 controller? How much more if you add RAID functionality?

I'm guessing $150 for a SCSI CD-RW
$75 for a nice SCSI CD-ROM
Keep my IDE DVD-ROM
$150 x 2 for the drives
---------------------------------
$525 in drives
-$500 in stuff I would sell
------------------------------
$25 + SCSI card

What's a good SCSI card to get? I would like a RAID card, but it's not absolutly nessesary if it's too expensive.

BTW, thanks for your help guys, this is a relativly new market for me to explore.

 

[Pariah]

Some more realistic estimates would goes as follows:

SCSI CDROM - $100
SCSI CDRW - at least $200
18GB 10K drives - $200 a piece
U160 SCSI card - $185 and up (cables, terminator included)

You can get Plextor refurb stuff for less, these are quotes for new.

 

[Scootin159]

<< Some more realistic estimates would goes as follows:

SCSI CDROM - $100
SCSI CDRW - at least $200
18GB 10K drives - $200 a piece
U160 SCSI card - $185 and up (cables, terminator included)

You can get Plextor refurb stuff for less, these are quotes for new. >>



Yeah I was just checking some prices on those and found that as well. Hmm...seems really nice (although I would like more than 18GB when you figure in the $$$ I'd be spending), but it is still really expensive. I was just looking, but I don't see any RAID cards for <$600, is this right? I guess SCSI RAID really isn't an option then, but I think a 10k SCSI drive would give better perfomance than a 2x7200rpm IDE array, especially when you figure it's for a workstation (several small file transfers).

 

[Jhereg]

Tekram makes some well performing inexpensive ( by SCSI standards) controllers.
Hypermicro offers the DC-390U3W for about 185.00
RAID for regular computers is a waste unless you are doing some serious I/O transfers and you want redundancy.
I don't count RAID 0 as true RAID anyway, RAID 0 might give you nice benchmark scores but for most people you will not find any great advantage in such a system.

 

[crt1530]

I like my setup:
Seagate 18.4GB X15 36LP (HD)
Plextor PX-40TSi (40x CD-ROM)
Plextor PX-W1210TS (12/10/32 CD-RW)
Pioneer DVD-305S (10x DVD-ROM)
Tekram DC-390U3W



P.S.: I have an UNUSED DVD-305S (still have it in the same packaging I received it in) I'm willing to sell for $80.

 

[Radboy]

Nice.

 

[tristramshandy]

Hypermicro has 18.6 Quantum (Maxtor) Orca 10K III for $202. Free shipping if you mention Storage Review.com. Hypermicro is about tops for scsi IMHO. Goodness they've got a 36 gig IBM SCSI-3 Ultrastar for $109. on special.

Speaking of which, you'll find the Quantum hd on the 10K scsi leaderboard if you go look at storagereview.com.

 

[Scootin159]

Actually looking over prices this looks like it may be a possibilty...just not a cheep one

Anyways, 2 questions:

#1)How many pins are different devices & what am I looking for? I guessed that almost all HDD's are 80pin U160 (well 10k drives at least), but what about with CD-ROM/CD-RW devices? Am I guessing right at 50-pin? If so do most SCSI controllers have 80 & 50 pin connectors?

#2)How unreallistic would it be to replace my 2x 80GB HDD's with SCSI HDD's of equal capacity (must only be 5400rpm or more, don't need 10k here ).

 

[Beeker25]

I switched over to all SCS about 2 years ago and have never bought another IDE device since then. SCSI is the best upgrade that I have ever made, it does come at a very hefty pricetag, especially SCSI RAID. I have SCSI RAID arrays in 4 of my 6 systems, and all 6 systems are completely SCSI. I use the Adaptec 29160 and 39160 for my SCSI controllers and either Adaptec, ATTOTECH, or MYLEX SCSI RAID controllers. My main server consists of a Tyan K7 Thunder 2462UNG with Dual channel U160 SCSI onboard, 2.0GB ECC REG. PC2100, 2 x Athlon1900+XP's, Adaptec 3200S SCSI RAID comtroller, 4 x Seagate Cheetah X15 in RAID 0 + 1, Plextor 40X UltraPlexWide SCSI CDRom, 2 x Plextor 12/10/32 SCSI CDRW, Elsa GeForce 3, my other 3 systems that have SCSI RAID arrays are 1 Tyan K7 Thunder-similar setup to above Thunder system=2 Thunders, and 2 x Tyan K7 Tiger's with 2.0GB of ECC REG PC2100, 2 x Athlon1600+XP and Athlon1800+XP,I am using a Adaptec 2100S SCSI RAID controller in 1 Tiger system along with a 29160 for my SCSI CDRom's/CDRW's, a ATTOTECH UL3D SCSI RAID controller, and a Mylex ExceleRAID352, all SCSI HD's are either Seagate Cheetah X15 18.4GB or seagate Cheetah 18XL-10,000rpm 18.4GB, all RAID arrays are either RAID 0 + 1 or RAID 0.
SCSI RAID controllers are pretty expensive, you will not find a good U160 SCSI RAID Controller for under $500. The prices of SCSI devices is significantly higher than IDE.
Adaptec 3200S SCSI RAID controller=$620.00
Adaptec 2100S SCSI RAID controller=$400.00
Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller=$189.00
Adaptec 39160 SCSI controller=$329.00
ATTOTECH UL3D SCSI RAID controller=$535.00
Myles AcceleRAID352=$600.00
Seagate Cheetah X15 U160 18.4GB 15,000rpm=$329.00
Seagate Cheetah X15 U160 36.4GB 15,000rpm=$549.00
Seagate Cheetah 18XL U160 18.4GB 10,000rpm$209.00
Seagate Cheetah 36XL U160 36.4GB 10,000rpm=$359.00

If you are planning on using all SCSI , make sure that you buy good, name brand, quality parts, otherwise stick to IDE. The performance of SCSI is great, but it does come at a high price tag, to me, it is worth every penny.

 

[chrisfrog]

i like my scsi setup although its a little old... i will be getting a tekram u3w card and most likely a 10k cheetah or maxtor, what i currently have is...

diamond fireport 40 (yeah i know it sux)
seagate 9gig 7200rpm baracuda u2w
Panasonic 7502b 4x scsi cdr
Plextor 20x cd-rom

although i use a 40gig ide for stuff like mp3s and movies

works great

 

[Pariah]

"How many pins are different devices & what am I looking for?"

50 pin for CDROM drives, 68 for hard drives. You don't want 80pin drives they're designed for servers and require an adapter to work on standard SCSI cards.

Not sure what you mean by your second question, but for the low low price of about $1500 you can get 2 73GB 10K drives. There are no 80GB SCSI drives, only multiples of roughly 9GB (9.1,18.4,36.7,73.4,181.5).

 

[kjmcdonald]

SCSI is nice. but it does cost $$.

The thing you need to keep in mind is that you don't need to convert everything all at once!
Your IDE connections will still work. You can convert one device at a time if you want.

I would start with the HD's if you really want to do this. That's where you'll see the
performance improvement.

I actually would just stick with IDE for the CD, CDRW, and probably the DVD too. No matter
how fast your CD or CDRW is it can't touch the limit on IDE, especially if the CD or CDRW is
on it's own cable. Same for todays DVD's.

Lastly why do you want to have a CD player when you have a DVD and a CDRW?? If you
do go and switch to all SCSI save yourself some time and money and lose the CD.

This is a cool switch to make but with the exception of the possible better HD performance,
about all you get for your money is braggin' rights. Not worth it if you ask me.

One other reason to do it is if you have alot of other SCSI devices at work or on another
computer that you want to be able to move back and forth - but again you could do that
by just buying a SCSI controller and not changing anything else in your system.

-Kyle