mixing Wide and Narrow SCSI devices (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

I have an Adaptec 2940UW SCSI adaptor to my old computer, but all my internal SCSI devices are 50 pin "Narrow" SCSI devices.

1 Seagate 4gig HD
1 Plextor Ultraplex CD-ROM
1 HP 9100i CD-RW

I need a larger hard drive and was looking at replacing the 50 pin SCSI devices with a 68 pin Wide cable and getting adaptors for the three legacy devices I have. Unfortunately, it looks like the Adaptec 68-pin to 50-pin converters aren't cheap, like $27 each and I'd need three. Anybody still sell 50-pin SCSI hard drives? I'm trying not to add an IDE hard drive for cleanliness although I'm probably be better off and it'll be cheaper. I've had SCSI devices ever since my old Mediavision sound card with a SCSI adaptor on it.

Jay

 

[Ken Chan]

I doubt they make narrow drives anymore. If you could find a used one, it would be small, like 1GB.

The 2940UW has both 68- and 50-pin internal connectors. According to installation guide, you can use both at the same time. (You can use any two of the three.) So leave the old drives on the 50, and put the new drive on the 68. You won't need any converters, but you may need to watch the total cable length.

//Ken

 

[JamesHl]

What kind of stuff do you do with your computer that you feel like SCSI is worth the extra scratch?

 

[John_Berger]

What kind of stuff do you do with your computer that you feel like SCSI is worth the extra scratch?

You beat me to the punch. Considering that ATA-100 drives can reach transfer rates of 35 MB (that's megaBYTES per second), I can't imagine any reason to continue to fork over a lot of money for what you will onlybe able to purchase as a used drive of minimal capacity at a premium price with a transfer rates that's a fraction of something like an ATA-100 connection.

Just go IDE. The cost/benefit ratio just isn't worth it for SCSI anymore, particularly for home usage.

 

[Jay H]

Aha, that was my other question. I thought you couldn't use the 68 pin cable if you were using the 50 pin one.

I know about the IDE stuff, I just happen to have had SCSI devices in my PC for so long, it's become a tradition. I didn't know how rare 50 pin SCSI devices are anymore either! I did manage to find 2.1gig SCSI hard drives for $59 somewhere in my travels yesterday. My diskspace isn't that bad since I don't play games or download alot of stuff, I've just been slowly installing apps and all software tends to bloat over the years too.

I presume adding a new IDE hard drive wont be a problem, coexisting with my SCSI card and my 3 other SCSI device.

Jay

 

[John_Berger]

I presume adding a new IDE hard drive wont be a problem, coexisting with my SCSI card and my 3 other SCSI device.

That depends on your system. A lot of systems automatically look at the IDE drive as the main boot drive; but never systems should be able to let you switch to SCSI as the first boot device in the BIOS/CMOS.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

James, I wouldn't want to even image an IDE system with 14 devices attached to it.

Glenn