Question about a SCSI drive

Is this a good deal? An 18GB SCSI drive for only $30.

It is only 10,000 RPM, not 15,000 RPM, so will it be any faster than an IDE drive?

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=proframe&prod_id=729246

I wouldn't mind having something faster to load my OS from!

 

Something is odd here. Overstock.com leaves out a line of fine print details and these are not the same models from Seagate, but what's the difference? Heh, if there's not some amount of a difference, maybe I should buy 100 from Overstock and re-sell them

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=proframe&prod_id=710241#

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148047

 

Anyone?

 

First of all, that is an 80pin drive. You almost certainly need
a 68 pin unless you are running some sort of server.
Now even though they are sending an adapter with it,
you don't want to go there. I've been using scsi drives for years,
and there was a time (probably still with some companies) when
you couldn't even get tech support on a scsi drive if you were
using an adapter. There are really high end adapter boards that
cost many hundreds of dollars. Do you think those companies would
be in business if you could just use a $10 adapter without
any possible issues?

Secondly, I couldn't find where it said the drive thickness but scsi
drives come in 1 inch, 1 1/2 inch and 3 inch thickness. You need
the 1 inch if it's fitting into a standard drive bay. And they made
a lot of 1 1/2 inch drives in every category.

 

askantic,

The Seagate drive at Overstock is a refurb with only a 90-day warranty - new Seagate SCSI drives have 5-year warranties! That being said, I'm using refurb and used 10k SCSI drives here - one for at least a year and another for far longer with NO PROBLEMO.

Two of my 10k U160 drives also are SCA drives (which lack some features of the 68-pin models) with adapters and they run just fine. The only situation that might call for a fancier SCA to 68pin adapter is with a recent model 15k U320 drive.

The Quantum 10k II model is getting a bit long in the tooth but I'm running a TY009 in my machine and it's fast enough for me. Sustained thruput on this model is 20-40 MB/Sec. Many 7200 rpm IDE drives beat that.

There are tons of 10k U160 drives out there on eBay and elsewhere. Most of them are great for beginning to dabble in SCSI.

Take a trip to http://www.storagereview.com and register so you can look at their reliability database. There you can check on the reported reliability of the model(s) you are considering.

If you need an excellent host adapter and LVD cable (often called a "controller" by the great unwashed), I just posted one in the For Sale section here that would be perfect for the drives you've linked so far and anything up to the latest 15k models.

.bh.

Here, have a beer!

 

The Seagate you linked seems to be of the same generation and it is a bit slower than the Quantum in rated seek time (>6ms). It is also the half-height size (same thickness as optical drives - 1.6"). Those drives usually go for really low bucks.

Here are some of my SCSI sources:

Here are some good SCSI vendors:

[L=http://www.hypermicro.com]http://www.hypermicro.com[/L] (may offer free ground shipping if you mention www.storagereview.com - check the SR site for the latest offer)
[L=http://www.centrix-intl.com]http://www.centrix-intl.com[/L]
[L=http://www.pc-pitstop.com]http://www.pc-pitstop.com[/L] (offers PayPal as a payment option)
[L=http://www.scsi4me.com]http://www.scsi4me.com[/L] (ditto)
[L=http://www.etech4sale.com]http://www.etech4sale.com[/L]

and I can usually find stuff (like drives, cables and adapters) for low bucks on eBay.

.bh.

 

And if my new post hasn't appeared in the For Sale section yet, here is a link to it on another forum: U160 SCSI Adapter and other neat stuff too.

.bh.