SCSI vs IDE: Why SCSI HDDs Cost More

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the reasons for the price difference between SCSI and IDE hard disk drives (HDDs), focusing on aspects such as speed, flexibility, and RAID capabilities. Participants explore technical specifications and practical applications in server and workstation environments.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that SCSI HDDs are more expensive due to their faster data transmission rates compared to IDE HDDs.
  • Others mention that SCSI drives typically support more devices in a system, with a capacity for up to 15 drives, which can be advantageous in server or graphic workstation setups.
  • One participant notes that SCSI allows for hot-swapping of drives, enabling continued operation even if one drive fails, which is beneficial for data integrity.
  • Another participant counters that IDE drives can also support RAID configurations, specifically mentioning RAID 5, and that IDE expansion cards can increase the number of devices beyond the typical limit.
  • Concerns are raised about the availability of high RPM IDE drives, with one participant stating they have only encountered up to 7200 RPM IDE drives.
  • There is a mention of S-ATA drives as a potentially superior alternative, although some participants express unfamiliarity with S-ATA technology.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the advantages of SCSI over IDE, particularly regarding speed, flexibility, and RAID capabilities. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives presented.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference specific technical features and limitations of both SCSI and IDE drives, but there are no definitive conclusions drawn regarding overall superiority or applicability in different contexts.

Saint
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why SCSI HDD is more expensive than IDE HDD? The capacity and spinning speed are the same, but price varies.
 
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The capacity and r.p.m. may be the same, but SCSI transmits the data faster, hence the larger price.
(edit: Also, I believe, RAID capability is usually incorporated with SCSI.)

You often need an additional adapter card as well, since most motherboard manufacturers don't include SCSI capability except for servers.
 
SCSI is faster. But you should try S-ATA, I heard it really rocks...
 
scsi is more flexible then ide. you can only have 4 ide drives in a system vs. 15 scsi drives in a system, which can be important in a server or a graphic workstation. one reason why servers use scsi is that is one of the hard drives goes, you can keep doing what ever it was you were doing and replace the drive without turing off the systen, and with a good backup program program you lose very little data
 
You can do that with IDE as well, Raid 5 - Stripe set. This feature is not a part of scsi hard drives, but may be a part of the scsi controller card depending on what you buy.

I personally have not seen an IDE drive spinning at 10k rpm. 7200 is the fastest I have used.

As far as the 4 device IDE limit, you can buy IDE expansion cards that allow you more devices.

SCSI is faster than a normal IDE drive...I have not seen any S-ATA devices, I'll have to go check that out
 

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