SCSI Question.

bilston

bilston

bilston

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So I got an Adaptec 29160N controller which has served me well for years. I got a couple of 10k3 Maxtors on it but want to expand the storage a bit. I use the LVD cable and not sure how many pins it uses.

At the moment I got 1x18gig for system and 1x36gig for everything else. Im thinking of selling the 18 and getting a 150gb for applications/games while swapping the 36 for the system.

Im assuming the newest 320 speed drives work with my setup? What pin type would I need to get it to work with the LVD cable I have already? Any other tips/ideas?

Thanks :)
 
Havent looked up you card but guess it uses the 68 pin internal scsi connector, these have been the same for ages so a later drive with this connector will plug straight in. However your card is only u160 where the new drives are u320, so your card could be a potential bottleneck.
 
I thought that initially. The new drives are pulling about 90mbps where as the ones I have at the moment are doing under half that, so I think I could be ok with 1 new drive and 1 of my old ones.

Thanks for the info. :)
 
PCI bus can hardly handle u160. You need PCI-X for u320 (found in server boards). So your card shuold be fine with a u320 drive just running at 160. :)

The cable you have is probally a 68pin cable. (Only other option would be an 80pin cable... but those are for hot swapping. If you have a molex connected to the drive for your power, then you are using 68pin connectors)

Have you seen SCSI disk prices? A 150GB disk is still around £200. I have been a SCSI lover for many years... but am thinking seriously about the future when 250GB SATA II drives are below £50.... that is cheaper than the LVD CABLE I use to connect my drives together!!
 
no drive can sustain the max bandwidth offered by pci slot which is around 133mb per second. only in raid configurations will it hit the limit.

your drive will be fine. even 18krpm scsi drives top out at around 100meg per second.
 
If you want to get the most out of your storage then you should consider making the most of what you've got! Rather than get a single large drive, consider getting a few smaller ones and Raid'ing them - either the 72gb or the 36gb ones can be had relatively cheaply on the 'bay. Worth picking up a nice cheap Dell pci-e card as well and you'll be away - lots of fun and blisteringly fast :D

I'd probably leave the 18Gb drive in as the system drive (more than enough) and simply build a large array for your programmes)
 
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