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Date:	Wed, 26 Dec 2001 16:23:47 PST7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Lost CD Rom

Content Type: text/plain

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Sandy Shapiro wrote:
>
> I changed /U:1 to /U:0 and everything fell into place.

See? You didn't need us after all. :)))

> I am thinking of replacing this CD Writer,
> and I am debating between SCSI and IDE.
> Anyone have a recommendation?

The biggest problem with IDE is hardware -- it takes up an IRQ for every
two devices (well, actually, every channel and there are two IDE devices
on each IDE channel), and it takes up a motherboard slot for every
additional IDE card that you plug in if you want more than what's
supported by the motherboard (typically 4 devices, some motherboards
have 8).

If you aren't going to "grow" your system much, then IDE is fine (and is
a lot cheaper than SCSI).

*However*, if you like to stuff your systems then SCSI is a better
choice. A SCSI controller takes up only one IRQ and can support 7 or 15
devices. Most motherboards don't have onboard SCSI so you _will_ need a
slot for the SCSI controller.

You can pencil it out ("pencil. noun. a pre-PC method of storing
information.") and see if four IDE devices will suit you. Most likely
you'll have some hard drives, a tape backup drive, a CD player and maybe
a CD recorder. If the device count is more than 4, increase your IDE
capability with a new motherboard or an add-in IDE adapter card. If the
device count is more than 8, something will have to be SCSI.

SCSI gear is almost always more expensive than IDE. Some people claim
that's because the SCSI hardware is faster/better but I haven't found
that to always be true.

Another option: there are adapters which plug into an IDE drive and
convert it to a SCSI drive, so you can buy inexpensive IDE drives and
run them off your SCSI controller. A year ago these adapters were $150
or so; I haven't priced them recently.

And another option: plug some of your drives into a second machine and
network them together. But don't network them at 10 Mb/s; use 100 Mb/s
or you'll really notice the speed slowdown.

- Peter

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