Is SCSI more trouble than its worth?

[roderickom]

I am putting together a server for the office here, and I am deciding whether to put in IDE, Serial ATA, or SCSI hard drives. I want SCSI because of the speed, but I always seem to here problems with it. Is SCSI more trouble than its worth?

Roderick Shilling

http://www.orbitmicro.com

http://www.qubitmicro.com

 

[edfair]

Definitely worth it in the long run. Not for price or speed, but for reliability.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Vetinari78]

i'd agree, SCSI is far more reliable than ide, just make sure of scsi id's etc.
also what os u using?, if you're using 2k it could be worthwhile thinking about the disk type (using dynamic instead of basic so u can stripe or span the volumes)

 

[bcastner]

Speed is no longer a special reserve of SCSI drives, most of the drive types you mentioned are now as fast or faster than SCSI.

My own experience is that they seem more durable and reliable than what is generally sold as IDE devices. If you have had problems with SCSI before, I strongly recommend looking at the Microsoft WHQL list of approved controllers before purchasing. It is the oddball or outdated controller that can make you want to pull your hair out when using SCSI. Finally, just make sure you follow the rules about SCSI ID assignment and proper termination of the SCSI chain at both ends.

 

[crazy888s]

SCSI is so noisy...drives me nuts. That's when it's set up in my personal comp right in front of me though...but for a server back in some closet, who cares. I have definitely noticed greater speeds and reliability using SCSI than IDE, although it is more expensive. I personally am using IDE drives now and have never had a problem with them being unreliable (i'm not saying it doesnt happen).

I'm waiting for SerialATA prices to drop and see how others review it as it expands and bugs get worked out. SATA seems to be the way things are moving and, 'theoretically', it is much faster. (but ATA133 is also supposed to be much faster than ATA100, and that seems to be a marketing scam) SATA, within the next 10 years, will advance from 1.5 gigabits per second (equivalent to a data rate of 150MB/s), to 3.0 gigabits per second (300 MB/s), then to 6.0 gigabits per second (600 MB/s). it all sounds good. we'll see.....

 

[Grenage]

SCSI is Nice and reliable with the right equipment it is true, its fantastic for servers. With most of the new workstation motherboards having on-board ATA-RAID capability though there isn't too much in it.

You can have mirroring for reliability or striping for speed at very little cost, so SCSI is hardly the only option for speed.

 

[edfair]

Don't know what you are using that is noisy. Mine are about the same level as the IDE stuff.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[JohnRiviera]

I use scsi peripherals for several years and I had no problem. I believe that the important is to set of the quality material. I noticed generally that scsi hard disks seems more durable than ide discs.