IDE CF Vs. SCSI HD - Worth it?

[edd_jedi]

I have a 4GB CF HD connected to my A4000's internal IDE connection. I am running Classic Workbench. I also have a Cyberstorm 040 card, which has a SCSI adapter. I was wondering if it is worth replacing the CF HD with a SCSI one? My system boots up quickly and loads games pretty fast, but it is noticeably very slow when copying large amounts of files. Will a SCSI drive make a noticeable difference, or does my IDE HD just feel slow because I'm used to modern transfer speeds? Also what about reliability, which is safer? It does slightly bother me having everything on a CF card as flash media tends to corrupt easily in my experience.

If I do decide to go for a SCSI HD, is there a maximum size that will work with CWB, and could I simply use Dopus to transfer everything from my CF HD to the SCSI one, then reboot with the old IDE HD disconnected? Or is there more to it than that.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by edd_jedi

I have a 4GB CF HD connected to my A4000's internal IDE connection. I am running Classic Workbench. I also have a Cyberstorm 040 card, which has a SCSI adapter. I was wondering if it is worth replacing the CF HD with a SCSI one? My system boots up quickly and loads games pretty fast, but it is noticeably very slow when copying large amounts of files. Will a SCSI drive make a noticeable difference, or does my IDE HD just feel slow because I'm used to modern transfer speeds? Also what about reliability, which is safer? It does slightly bother me having everything on a CF card as flash media tends to corrupt easily in my experience.

I would recommend SCSI for your system with either a real SCSI HDD or a SCSI-IDE bridge & IDE HDD.

It will likely be about 3x-4x as fast for transfer speeds and SCSI does not have the same level of CPU overhead as IDE

Originally Posted by edd_jedi

If I do decide to go for a SCSI HD, is there a maximum size that will work with CWB, and could I simply use Dopus to transfer everything from my CF HD to the SCSI one, then reboot with the old IDE HD disconnected? Or is there more to it than that.

Indeed once you prep the drive you can use DOpus to copy everything over, the SCSI should support large drives already without the need for patching anything as long as you use a file system like SFS/PFS3 to prepare the drive.

Thomas here at EAB is a good person to ask on the limits of drive size. SFS supports up to 127gb IIRC but the SCSI chip on the CyberStorm may be more limited.

I've ran 20gb HDD's in my Big Box SCSI based Amiga's (via SCSI-IDE bridges) with no issues and check4gb tool reported everything ok

[edd_jedi]

Great thanks Steve, all sounds good. I don't suppose anybody knows the limit of the Cyberstorm SCSI drive size? I just looked in the manual and couldn't see anything about it.

[edd_jedi]

Considering this again. I have found one of these for a good price on eBay:

http://www.globalonetechnology.com/C...5c5_refurb.htm

2 questions - firstly, can anyone tell me if this drive is compatible with the Cyber SCSI? I can't see anything about pin outs on either the drive or board. Here is my SCSI module with HD cable attached:



Secondly, it is a 36GB drive. Anybody know if that will be too big for OS 3.1?

[fitzsteve]

As long as you use a file system like SFS or PFS3 you should be fine.

Beware SCSI, in particular UW Drives can be a little tricky to setup with the correct termination, etc. You might face an uphill battle to get it all working so bare that in mind. It 'should' work as long as you have the correct adapters and file system/termination.

IMHO you'd be better off with be SCSI-IDE bridge or a 50pin SCSI-2 HDD. (if you can find them cheap)

[edd_jedi]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

IMHO you'd be better off with be cheap SCSI-IDE bridge or a 50pin SCSI-2 HDD.

IDE to SCSI bridges seem to sell for £70-£100, which makes no sense when I can get a real SCSI drive for under £10 and (hopefully) take advantage of the super-speed of SCSI The IDE option, although easier, seems a bit half-arsed IMO (and expensive.)

[fitzsteve]

All mine I have bought for £30-£40, you just have to be patient, they come up on Amibay fairly often or you can start a 'wanted' thread.

I offloaded 3 of mine recently for £40 each

I find SCSI drives generally unreliable, they few I have had have all died hence why I use SCSI-IDE and newer IDE drives for my setups now.

I'd love to try a SCSI-SATA+ SSD combo on my CSPPC but sadly I have to let that go to fund real life

[edd_jedi]

OK thanks mate I'll have a think. The main thing that worries me is that I've spent days setting my A4000 up how I want it, not to mention all the game saves, and I don't trust a flash HD to look after it!

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by edd_jedi

OK thanks mate I'll have a think. The main thing that worries me is that I've spent days setting my A4000 up how I want it, not to mention all the game saves, and I don't trust a flash HD to look after it!

I'd trust a SCSI HDD even less

What about SSD? You can get Kingspec 8gb ones for <£20 - I have one here it's great and I have another (16gb) in my Micro AmigaOne, its terrific!

Granted it still wont be as fast as SCSI but might be more reliable than flash media and old SCSI HDD's, which not to mention are really Hot running and will certainly increase the temps inside your A4000 possible damaging other hardware.

i.e running an 040 and SCSI HDD in a closed A4000 is going to get toasty!

[roy bates]

i use scsi harddrives i like them but they do get hot in operation and there noisey.

if you can get them,try to get some quantum atlas 10k 68 pin drives there nice and reliable.you just need the right termination and adaptors.(i think on your setup you need termination on both ends)and make sure its active termination for best transfers.
like steve says though you have to be carefull of termination,and the above reasons.

they can be tricky to setup,but as a bonus just like ide you can mount it in winuae on a scsi card and do the transfers there as well,ive done that a few times.