On 19 Apr 99, at 15:11, Timchenko Maxim wrote:

> I'd go for SCSI HD. You'll never have to worry about no free
> connections again -- at least 8 HD's on SCSI!

  Narrow ("normal") SCSI allows for 8 devices, but the controller itself
counts against that number.  Wide expands that to 16 devices, but still only
8 can be narrow, and if the controller is numbered above 7 then no narrow
devices will be able to talk to it.  [Yes, I have seen people do this.]
  Also, each SCSI bus takes up only one IRQ, so you could have TWO SCSI
busses in place of EIDE (IRQs 14 and 15), and generally SCSI puts less load
on the CPU (which you'd prefer be doing other things!) than IDE/EIDE.

  There are a couple of downsides:

1.  EIDE is built in.  Decent SCSI runs about $150/bus, more or less, whether
you get it built in or as controllers (which need slots...).

2.  Gigabyte for gigabyte, SCSI drives are often about 50% more expensive
than EIDE/ATA.

3.  Where are you going to get power for all of these drives?  Unlike
EIDE/ATA, it's not too hard to put SCSI drives in external enclosures with
their own power supply -- it just costs money....

  SCSI is a good option for commercial and performance systems; it tends to
be both expensive and overkill for most home systems.  But if EIDE won't do
everything you want....


David G

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