scsi

[rubix_1011]

I was hoping someone could provide me with information. I have 4 10k scsi drives pulled from a Dell Poweredge 2450 server. They were in the sway trays, but I have removed them.

My question is this: I would like to use them in my game PC with 2 in a RAID 0, but I don't currently have a scsi controller. The drives do not look like they have a power plug on them. Will these work, or do I have the wrong kinds of drives for this?

Does scsi provide power over the cable? (never heard of it, but obiously, if I am asking these questions then I really don't know)

Does anyone recommend a scsi controller that would benefit me at minimal cost? (newegg, ebay, etc)

 

[fredgiblet]

There are SCSI interfaces that provide power over the cable though the specifics escape me, I know this because I installed several where I worked last. Unfortunately that's all the help I can give.

 

[kittle]

sounds like what you got are the 80-pin hot-swap scsi drives. they provide data and power plugs all in one big plug.
"regular" scsi has the normal data and power cable seprate and only a 68pin data plug.

go do a search on newegg for 'hot swap scsi' and see what you get
because they are hot-swap drives you need something for them to plug into as well as a scsi controller card.

suggestions:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811116180

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816401008 (requires PCI-x slot)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103045 (requires pci-express slot)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103071

..... and no scsi is not cheap. but its quite fast

 

[redalet]

Maybe a stupid question but with this adapter can the hard drive get power? also do scsi drives have termination built in or do I have to get one of these adapters pictured below with active termination? Thanks.

 

[rubix_1011]

Most SCSI devices only terminate the connection they utilize, not the entire SCSI cable they run on. You would need an end terminator for this, unless I am mistaken. I obviously am not the foremost expert on SCSI since I orginally asked this forum question. Where did you find that adapter? Did it specifiy for hot swap drives? It looks like it could work if its the right size, although it would be just cheaper to buy another Raptor SATA drive and RAID using my motherboard RAID ability than buying the SCSI controller and needed accessories... Nice find...let me know where you dug that up!

 

[bberson]

I was hoping someone could provide me with information. I have 4 10k scsi drives pulled from a Dell Poweredge 2450 server. They were in the sway trays, but I have removed them.

My question is this: I would like to use them in my game PC with 2 in a RAID 0, but I don't currently have a scsi controller. The drives do not look like they have a power plug on them. Will these work, or do I have the wrong kinds of drives for this?

Does scsi provide power over the cable? (never heard of it, but obiously, if I am asking these questions then I really don't know)

Does anyone recommend a scsi controller that would benefit me at minimal cost? (newegg, ebay, etc)

The drives you have use 80-pin "SCA" (single cable attachment) connectors, which carry the SCSI signals, power, and wiring logic for setting the SCSI IDs automatically. To make use of them, you would at least have to remove and utilize the hot-swap tray from the 2450 or some other "donor" box because if 80-pin daisy chain cables exist, I certainly haven't seen them.

Once you've done that and have a the SCSI and power cables for the hot-swap chassis, any inexpensive ultra-wide or ultra-160 LVD SCSI controller will do. You can find ordinary Adaptec SCSI cards on eBay cheap (see item # 180198124593) and set up RAID in software, or you can try to dig up a more sophisticated controller that does RAID in hardware for higher performance results, but that will probably end up becoming rather expensive unless you can dig something out of a donor server somewhere.

If the hot-swap chassis is not available, there are SCA to 68-pin adapters for around $15 apiece I think, at which point you can use an ordinary 68-pin cable with an LVD/SE terminator at one end, and you'll have to remember to set the SCSI ID jumpers on the adapters. Take care which adapters you buy - some aren't really 160/LVD compatible and will slow the data transmission to/from the hard drives.

Beware, these drives will be hot and noisy. There's a reason you usually only see 'em in servers.

-B

 

[rubix_1011]

Thanks for the help...what I am finding is that these drives might be more trouble (and $$$) than its worth to set them up in a workstation/gaming PC. I think it might be best to just stick with SATA at this point in the juncture. Thanks to all for the input, it at least gave me information to consider as to what my options might be.