Re: [TCLUG:12134] SCSI vs. IDE

[Adam Maloney <adam@iexposure.com>]

I don't know a huge amount about this...I base my opinion on what IDE
drives were in the 80's...but SCSI is always the way to go for servers. 
Even for being able to run 15 devices SCSI has my vote.  Your SCSI card
and drives usually have onboard cache, and are a bit more intelligent
about the reads/writes than IDE is.  IDE drives are cheaper because
there's no intelligence built onto the drive - just the basic IO to get
the head to spin and the head to move.

Also with LVD drives you can run cable further.  Good for those external
storage solutions...

I've always put SCSI in our servers, and IDE in my little brothers
machine.  Even a machine for heavy gaming could probably get by with
IDE.  A lot of it just depends on what the configuration is for.  If the
application can withstand a little latency, than maybe you shouldn't
spend the extra money.

I'll pit my 110Gb RAID 10 array against any IDE configuration :)

"Eric M. Hopper" wrote:
> 
>         What's this list's take on this issue?  I've heard from various
> people that even though IDE technically has a higher bulk transfer rate
> with ATA-66, SCSI still outperforms it when you're in a real-world
> environment.
> 
>         Is this true?
> 
>         Also, if you have the typical two onboard IDE controllers, what
> are the interactions?  Can the computer read from the slave CD-ROM drive
> and then quickly write to the master hard-drive on the same controller?
> How about if they're both the master on different controllers?  How much
> does the CPU have to get involved?  Can you queue up reads and writes to
> be handled by the controller via DMA?  Can the queued reads and writes
> be to different devices?  Am I mistaken in thinking that SCSI can do
> this?
> 
>         I'm curious because people often ask me to recommend system
> configurations, and I'm wondering if my opinion of SCSI is outdated.
> I'm also wondering how I should recommend they attach their IDE CD-ROM
> and hard drives.
> 
> Thanks,
> --
> Its name is Public Opinion.  It is held in reverence. It settles everything.
> Some think it is the voice of God.  Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet
> broke a chain or freed a human soul.     ---Mark Twain
> -- Eric Hopper (hopper@omnifarious.mn.org  http://omnifarious.mn.org/~hopper) --
> 
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-- 
Adam Maloney
Systems Administrator
Internet Exposure, Inc.