U320 SCSI questions

[TeeJayHoward]

Fujitsu MAS3367NC (http://store.compuvest.biz/611000140-02.html) vs. Maxtor Atlas 15K II 8E036J0 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100779-1) vs. anything else.

I'm looking for a 36GB 80-pin U320 SCSI drive. I've visited http://www.storagereview.com and these drives seem to be neck-and-neck at the top of the pile. Am I overlooking any other drives? Anyone had any good/bad experiences with either of these drives? Just who IS John Galt?

[aug1516]

Well there is the newer Fujitsu series line, MAU I believe.

[TeeJayHoward]

Fujitsu MAU3036NC (Refurb) (http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822116150R) or Fujitsu MAU3036NC (OEM) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=22-116-150&depa=0)

Noted. Anything else? (Thanks for the heads up!)

Edit: WOW! According to THIS (http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark/compare_rtg_2001.php?typeID=10&testbedID=3&osID=4&raidconfigID=1&numDrives=1&devID_0=277&devID_1=279&devID_2=272&devID_3=267&devCnt=4) comparison, the MAU and the 15KII are REALLY close combatants. How are maxtor drives on the high-end of things? (Bad experiences with low-end drives. 8 Maxtor 40GB drives, 3 died. 2 were under warrenty (barely).)

[Vertigo Acid]

I personally have used various Atlas 10K I/II/III drives and been satisfied with their reliability. Were the 40gb drives you spoke about slim diamondmax 8s? Those had tons of known problems

[aug1516]

I have used most of the modern 15k drives out now and have had no reliability problems with any of them. Maxtors SCSI line has generally been quite good so I would not worry about that.

[DougLite]

Questions about the reliability of Maxtor's Enterprise SCSI Line? Rest easy - Maxtor purchased Quantum's hard drive division, and their SCSI drives were excellent, as are their Maxtor descendants. These drives, along with Fujitsu's and Seagate's SCSI drives, are designed for 24/7 power-on, round the clock access, and highly random duty cycles that would kill a desktop drive in short order. Make sure you have a quality PSU, keep the drives cool, and you will enjoy years of service from any SCSI drive. Of course, hard drives are mechanical devices, and therefore they can (and do) fail. However, any line of drives that survives in the enterprise IT market is reliable enough for you.

[TeeJayHoward]

...any line of drives that survives in the enterprise IT market is reliable enough for you.

*Cries* You've hurt my feelings! (But reassured me about Maxtor. Thanks.)

[DougLite]

Look at it this way. Remember Han Solo and Obi Wan Kenobi talking about the Millenium Falcon in Star Wars Episode IV?

"Is it a fast ship?"
"Fast enough for you old man." :p

Seriously, you'll be fine. You have no idea how great enterprise drives are until you've used one. I know my Fujitsu MAP3367 is the only member of my motley crew that I trust to spin up everyday.

[cooter]

I just sold 2 Seagate SCSI drives i had in RAID0 (ST336752LW (Ultra160)and ST336753LW (Ultra320)). They were nice and fast, as usual I wanted more.

The two drives I was looking at was the Fujitsu MAS3735NP and the Maxtor Atlas 15K IV. These are the 2 fastest 68 pin 15k SCSI drives on the market right now in the 73 gb range. I think that they both have a 80 pin version as well.

I decided to go with the Fujitsu drive and it gets here on Monday :p . The reason for this is because it had consistantly lower access times and seemed to perform better in a desktop enviroment. I paid $300 shipped for the drive.

Also is there any reason that you are going the 80 pin route?

[TeeJayHoward]

Also is there any reason that you are going the 80 pin route?

Hot-swap. I've got a 5-bay 1" hot swap enclosure I look to be filling up (Slowly) with SCSI discs. I actually just got it in today. Along with it came an Adaptec AHA-2940UW controller card (32-bit PCI bus with 40MB/s transfer limitation :() First, I'm selling my 3 73GB drives. Next, I'm buying the purty U320 drive. Then, the new controller card (About $80 via eBay, I hope.)

Can anyone recommend a decent U320 PCI/PCI-X card? It has to have backwards (32-bit) compatibility, and support the max speed of whatever super-duper-drive I buy.

[DougLite]

You have no use for anything over U160 in a 32bit PCI slot, as you're capped at 133MB/sec over the 32bit PCI bus. Also, the U320 cables tend to have a price premium over U160 cables. I'd stick with 160 - It is extremely unlikely that you will push more than that between drives without being CPU or bus limited first.

The LSI (I forget the model) single channel U160 and Adaptec 29160 are bot hsolid units, and can be had for less than $80 on Ebay. You will also want to look in FS/T, SCSI HBAs are items that show up pretty often.

[TeeJayHoward]

You have no use for anything over U160 in a 32bit PCI slot, as you're capped at 133MB/sec over the 32bit PCI bus. Also, the U320 cables tend to have a price premium over U160 cables. I'd stick with 160 - It is extremely unlikely that you will push more than that between drives without being CPU or bus limited first.

The LSI (I forget the model) single channel U160 and Adaptec 29160 are bot hsolid units, and can be had for less than $80 on Ebay. You will also want to look in FS/T, SCSI HBAs are items that show up pretty often.

Thanks again, DougLite :) I opted to go for the U320 gear because my next computer will be a dual opteron (onboard video, etc. I don't play games any more.) with the PCI-X slot for the controller. If, even then, I won't be using over 120-130MB/s, then I guess I could live with the U160 gear :) Just to check, though... The AHA 2940UW IS a limiting factor right now, correct? Also, would it be better to buy a mobo with onboard SCSI or use a PCI-X controller?

[Vertigo Acid]

Thanks again, DougLite :) I opted to go for the U320 gear because my next computer will be a dual opteron (onboard video, etc. I don't play games any more.) with the PCI-X slot for the controller. If, even then, I won't be using over 120-130MB/s, then I guess I could live with the U160 gear :) Just to check, though... The AHA 2940UW IS a limiting factor right now, correct? Also, would it be better to buy a mobo with onboard SCSI or use a PCI-X controller? The 2940UW will definitly limit you. Btw, I've got an LSIU160 card in FS/T, $30 shipped, let me know if you're interested. As for a mobo with onboard SCSI or PCI-X, I think it depends on the implimentation. If the controller is just off the PCI-X bus anyway, and the price difference between it and a non-scsi board is less than the cost of a controller, then go for it. But if the cost difference is more than a comparable standalone card, I think it's a waste unless you are short card slots for some reason

[TeeJayHoward]

I've got an LSIU160 card in FS/T, $30 shipped, let me know if you're interested.

Damn... If only I didn't need the $30 to ship my PC out... If it's still availible next friday, I just might take you up on that. Can ya PM me a link to your FS thread?

[cooter]

I am running an adaptec 39320-r, its a 64 bit PCI-X card that is out of U320. It is a great card and is backward compatible to normal pci.