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by Pastaman on August 12th, 2003

Pastaman

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What are the advantages/disadvantages of using SCSI?

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  • by DOSJockey382 on August 13th, 2003

    DOSJockey382

    SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) was designed initially to be a jack-of-all-trades kind of interface. I may repeat some of what has already been said for the sake of making my answer as complete as I can.

    Advantages:
    1. SCSI can handle a wide variety of devices: hard drives, scanners, plotters, CD drives, and the list goes on.
    2. A SCSI controller can communicate with up to 7 or 15 devices depending on the version. I am sure work is being done to add more.
    3. It is often easier to install and setup a SCSI device than with many other device interfaces. (This comment is not limited to the SCSI vs. IDE issue. See Advantage #1 for the scope of what I mean by "device." I also say it is "often easier," not "universally easier.")
    4. SCSI controllers and devices are intelligent, they have microcontrollers, if not full blown processors, inside them. They do not require software-base contoller drivers like some Windows devices, putting less load on the CPU.
    5. SCSI has proven itself to be a good platform for moving and storing large amounts of data. Recent developments with SCSI have focused on exploiting this feature even further.
    6. Newer SCSI devices and controllers are supposed to be backward compatible with older SCSI devices and contollers. (from my own personal experience, this is about 95% true)
    7. Recent SCSI contoller and devices currently offer the highest through-put for any peripheral connection scheme currently available.
    8. SCSI drives are, on the whole, more reliable than ATA/IDE drives.

    Disadavntages:
    1. SCSI has never been cheap.
    2. There are at least a dozen different versions of SCSI: narrow, wide, fast, ultra, SCSI-2, ultra-wide, Ultra 320, fibre-channel and more.
    3. There are 3 different port interfaces for connecting internal SCSI devices: 50-pin, 68-pin, and 80-pin. You can buy adapters to convert from one kind of connector to another.
    4. There are even more port interfaces for connecting external devices. I know of at least 4. You can buy cables that convert from one port interface to another.
    5. SCSI drives generally run at higher RPMs than ATA/IDE drives which creates more heat and noise than their lower RPM counterparts.
    6. When something breaks, SCSI drives are more difficult to repair than ATA/IDE drives. (or so I was told by a colleague who used to do physical repairs on hard drives)

    Comments

    • I don't know about them being easier to setup than ATA - nowadays ATA is almost plug and play.

      facboy

      by facboy on August 15th, 2003

    • I'll give you a good rating for your detailed answer, but I disagree with #3. IDE is easier to set up than SCSI.

      HungryGuy

      by HungryGuy on October 8th, 2004

    • I'm with Hungry Guy on this ship. I run Scuzzi,IDE and ATA on different boxes and the Scuz was a nightmare to set up.

      scubabob

      by scubabob on April 21st, 2006

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