SCSI adapter question

[smother]

excuse ignorance ive been in IT for years but never dealt with scsi

we have some old P4 desktops hooked up to medical analyzers via this card: http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/support/scsi/2930/AHA-2930CU

we need to replace the workstations but cant reuse the cards, have to order new ones. we'd prefer pci-e low profile cards due to these being SFF units but can work it out with pci if necessary as there's a riser option.

from what ive read scsi technology is backwards compatible, so would a u320 card work? like can i just get a 50-pin connection adapter?

[zandor]

U320 SCSI is backwards compatible all the way to SCSI1 at 5MB/s, at least in theory. You just have to get the right cables. For an LVD board you'll need a wide to narrow cable (assuming the medical analyzers are narrow & single ended like the old boards). There are multiple types of connectors for wide and narrow, so make sure you get whatever your hardware uses.

Realistically it's kind of hit & miss, but generally hit at least if you're pairing up a quality newer controller with older devices. Some hardware is flaky when paired up with hardware from a different generation. For example, when low voltage differential (LVD) first came out the drives were supposed to be backwards compatible with single ended controllers (5, 10, 20, or 40 MB/s), but the first LVD drive I bought wouldn't play nicely with my single ended Ultra 40 controller. I never had one bit of trouble running single ended drives on an LVD controller though. It should work, I'd just start with getting one controller and test it first before you go and buy a bunch of them.

If you do run into trouble this PCI board should probably work out well if you can stuff it in there: http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/Controllers/Hardware/scsi/entry/AVA-2930LP/. It's basically the same thing you have now, except low profile. I'm not sure if anyone makes a single ended PCI-e SCSI card.