SCSI320 Question

[TeMpT]

Just got a pair of Ultra320 15K drives from a friend and was wondering two things:

1. Is there a way to use these Ultra320 drives via my Ultra160 card? The interface is that trapezoid shape thing (I think it is called a 80 pin SCA)? My Ultra160 has a smaller version of that interface. If there is an adapter for it, what is it called and where may I find it?
   
   There is also no "power" jack on the drive. Is it part of the trapezoid interface?

Thanks

 

[redbeard1]

You need one of these. This one is a better quality model and I have had good luck using it. Some of the cheaper adapters don't work with all drives.

SCA adapter

 

[TeMpT]

So with this adapter, I will be able to use the drives right? I assume the bottleneck will be set at my Ultra160 controller, right?

 

[Sideswipe001]

You will be able to use the drives, correct. And it's unlikely that your 160 controller will be bottlenecking anything.

Neither of those drives by themselves will trasfer faster than 160 MB/s. You would have to have both transferring data simaltaneosly at their maximums, most likely, to feel that 160 bottleneck. More importantly, it depends on the PCI slot you're plugged into. A standard 32 bit/33 Mhz PCI bus has a maximum transfer speed of 133 MB/s, meaning your PCI bus is the bottleneck. If you get a workstation board that has a 32bit/66 Mhz PCI slot, that jumps to 266 MB/s (same speed as a 64bit/33 Mhz PCI slot). If you had a 64 bit/66 Mhz, it doubles again, to 533 MB/s, and then you get PCI-X which runs at 133 Mhz for 1066 MB/s.

In short...unless you have a new SCSI adapter on a workstation or server motherboard, you can't even max out your current SCSI card - nor will you unless both HDs are running full capacity - and maybe even not then.

 

[Zepper]

In addition to what the others have mentioned:
. You may find that you will need to have at least one standard drive (68-pin) in the position next to the terminator with the TermPower jumper enabled for your SCA drives to work reliably. SCA drives are designed to plug into a backplane that takes care of all that stuff for them - that (and the missing power connector) is why the SCA drives usually cost less than the standard equivalent. Tip: Set your first hard drive to SCSI Id 0 then 1, 2, 3 etc. and don't skip Ids. You may also want to set them for staggered startup if your PSU isn't too sturdy.
. I get my LVD compatible SCA adapters and cables off eBay and from www.centrix-intl.com and they have worked just fine. I got my last batch of adapters from Yuzinha (might be Yoozinha) or something like that on eBay. Another good source for SCSI stuff is hypermicro.com (free ground shipping if you mention storagereview.com) and for SCSI info there is no better starting place than www.scsifaq.org .
.bh.