SCSI is a technology that controls various SCSI devices, including hard drives, optical drives, scanners, and tape drives. A SCSI card is inserted into a PCI slot and has its own processing chip, making it faster than IDE. It can connect up to 15 devices per card and is useful for RAID configurations. SCSI devices are more expensive than IDE, but have longer warranties and are designed for 24/7 use in servers. SATA RAID is a good alternative for RAID configurations.
SCSI (pronounced scuzzy) is short for Small Computer System Interface and the SCSI card controls various SCSI devices. SCSI devices can be hard drives, optical drives, scanners, or tape drives.
A SCSI card is inserted into a PCI slot inside the computer. SCSI is a competing technology with the more standard IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). Most hard drives are IDE, but the IDE controller card is built into the motherboard. If you want SCSI components, you need a SCSI card.
There are various versions of the SCSI card that have different connectors as the technology has evolved.
The 25-pin card controls native SCSI devices
50-pin adapter controls Narrow (8-bit) SCSI-2, FastSCSI, and Ultra SCSI devices
68-pin card controls Ultra-Wide, Ultra2, Ultra 160, and Ultra 320 Wide (16-bit) devices
Many people prefer SCSI to standard IDE as SCSI technology is much faster. SCSI drives are popular in servers and among power users. A SCSI card has its own processing chip and does not need to rely on the Central Processing Unit (CPU). The tradeoff is that SCSI devices are more expensive than IDE devices. For this reason, many people choose to buy and use IDE hard drives, but will install a SCSI card for a SCSI DVD burner. The additional speed of SCSI is useful for demanding CD and DVD burning and playback needs.
A big advantage of this type of card is that it can connect up to 15 devices per card. This configuration is called a daisy chain, and each device on the SCSI cable is assigned its own ID. The ability to add to the SCSI card provides great flexibility for a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). When considering SCSI for a RAID, another good alternative is a SATA (Serial ATA) RAID. SATA hard drives will be less expensive than SCSI drives, and newer SATA drives should be comparable in speed to an Ultra 160 or higher SCSI RAID.
SCSI cards are available wherever computer components are sold. When purchasing one, make sure it is compatible with the SCSI components you wish to purchase. SCSI devices generally have a longer warranty than IDE devices, and SCSI drives are designed to run 24/7 to cater to the server market.
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