SCSI Issue

[MaMMa]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11160&item=5123056667&rd=1 <~~~ Looks like that

HP SCSI 36.4 GB 15000 RPM Wide Ultra320
- Hot Swap tray included

Is this drive an 80 pin? Then I have to get a convertor that switches the 80 to a 68pin?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=463806&sku=TC1-6500

This will be my first scsi and I'm not sure how this thing works. Someone told me that I need a convertor/terminator. I'm going to get a scsi adaptor and I assumed that is all I need, but its not? Can someone help me with this please. I want to run windows on this drive. Thanks!

 

[QHalo]

you'll need an 80 pin to 68 pin converter as 80 pin's are for hotswap backplanes and contain the power connections to the drives as well.

You need something like this...http://www.scsi4me.com/index.php?menu=menu_scsi&pid=3033

btw, that tray is going to be useless to you, you'll have to take the drive out. Also, those converters are really flimsy so be warned.

 

[MaMMa]

Do you think its even worth it? Would it boost my read/write speeds very noticablly? I'd like for my games and photoshop to load a lot quicker. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[QHalo]

Honestly, unless you're doing massive writes to the drive you're wasting your money, so I would go with a Western Digital Raptor and be happier. SCSI is nice don't get me wrong, but it's really overkill for what most people require.

Let me also add, with the addition of needing a SCSI card and the scsi cable and terminator plus the drive, you could have a Raptor. BTW, you'll never get U320 speeds out of that drive if you're using the machine in your sig. It doesnt have a 64bit PCI slot to take advantage of the massive burst transfers of U320, plus you really need a few of those drives in like a RAID 5 to get a real benefit. It's more bragging rights than anything.

 

[MaMMa]

Cool, thanks for the info. I just wanted to get the drive cuz I have a chance for a really nice price. Wanted to compare it myself vs the raptor 74.

 

[ambit]

MaMMa,
that's an old scsi drive. A Raptor will be faster than it.
You don't *need* a 64bit slot for that kind of drive, as by itself there is little chance of it bursting any faster than ~50Mb/s. You could get away with an U2W controller with little to no noticable slowdown. yes, it is 80pin SCA and you will need an adapter, which many people seem to have weird problems with. If you really want a scsi drive, go with 68pin and save yourself the hassel.

 

[MaMMa]

Thank you both for the knowledge

 

[QHalo]

MaMMa,
that's an old scsi drive. A Raptor will be faster than it.
You don't *need* a 64bit slot for that kind of drive, as by itself there is little chance of it bursting any faster than ~50Mb/s. You could get away with an U2W controller with little to no noticable slowdown. yes, it is 80pin SCA and you will need an adapter, which many people seem to have weird problems with. If you really want a scsi drive, go with 68pin and save yourself the hassel.

the ebay pic was of a drive that "looks" like the one he has, and he gave the specs on the drive he was gettings, which was

HP SCSI 36.4 GB 15000 RPM Wide Ultra320
- Hot Swap tray included

 

[MaMMa]

huh? not quite understanding

 

[QHalo]

Is the drive you're getting the drive on the ebay link or the specs you put under that link? Because those are two totally different drives. I think you were referring to the specs not the link on ebay which is what the other gentleman in this thread is apparently basing his decision on.

 

[MaMMa]

No its not the one on ebay. But the guy says it looks just like it. The only difference is that its a 15000 rpm and its a 36 gb. Its still the 80pin one.

 

[QHalo]

Either way a Raptor is cheaper. Get that instead and save yourself some headache.