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Date:	Sun, 30 Dec 2001 11:40:53 PST7
From:	Steve Carter <scarter@vcnet.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Your CD Writer under RSJ

Content Type: text/plain

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On 12/27/01, Sandy Shapiro wrote, in part:
> ...
>
>I notice that you are using a SCSI CD Writer. I am thinking of replacing
>my ancient IDE HP CD Writer. Now that I have a SCSI card (for my scanner
>and my tape drive), I am debating whether to get another IDE writer or
>switch to a SCSI writer. Steven opined that the newer IDE are now
>outperforming the SCSI writers.

Actually, what he said was:
"The real change has been the IDE transfer rate. IDE and SCSI are now
comparable in raw speed. SCSI still does better if you need to keep
multiple drives busy, but there's a cost for that."

Not quite the same as "outperforming".

For CD-ROM drives:

1X rate is 150KB/s.
12X rate is 12 x 150 = 1800KB/s.
20X rate is 20 x 150 = 3000KB/s.

Even the slowest SCSI PCI HA on earth will easily transfer at that rate.
The inexpensive HA that you, Peter and I now have will perform (10,000KB/s)
synchronous transfers and half that asynchronous.

(The last (read) rate (as in 12x10x40 ) is irrelevant to most anything
you're _likely_ to do. As long as it's over 16-20 it's probably fast
enough.)

The penalty is that you'll pay more for the SCSI hardware. If you've
already got the HA, as we do, then SCSI could be a good choice. Narrow
SCSI supports 7 devices on a single IRQ. In my IRQ-limited world,
that's a bargain. It leaves the few IDE ports available for things
like ZIP drives, an LS-120, a second HD or a cheap CD-ROM reader.

It is mostly with hard drives that transfer rate begins to really matter.
I've actually bought two IDE HDs recently, now that IDE transfer rates
(e.g. ATA/66 and ATA/100) have gotten fast enough. ATA/xx cable length
is limited to 18 inches, but that's usually plenty long enough for a
hard drive anywhere near the MB. SCSI still excels for external devices,
although USB is darned convenient, if slow.

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