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IDE/ATAPI to SCSI Converters Reviewed

Posted by michael on from the duct-tape dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "Seems that someone has finally come out with IDE/ATAPI to SCSI converters to bridge the gap between the high-cost SCSI world and the low-cost IDE world. Addonics is the company and LinuxHardware.org has a full review of these two devices. The review does a good job of laying out installation and performance. These are just what I've been looking for and although a little pricey, they seem to do the job."

4 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. so by tps12 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So instead of buying SCSI drives, you save money by getting cheaper, faster, but less dependable IDE drives and then shell out the price difference to adapt it to your slower SCSI bus. This seems like the worst of both worlds to me. Am I missing something?

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  2. ISA Adapters by DrLudicrous · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Screw SCSI adapaters. Make me something useful in the laboratory- like an ISA to PCI adapter. There are tons of ISA cards floating in science labs all throughout the world, and they become useless because when users upgrade their computers, there are no ISA slots.

    I cannot tell you all how many times I have come across this issue. I have seen some ISA adapters that cost upwards of several thousand dollars. Has anyone seen anything better and cheaper?

  3. Some links by bahwi · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those not familiar, or trying to respond to others in this forum and don't know what to say: =)

    IDE vs. SCSI article at PcMech.

    SCSI & IDE Overview Good, informative, classroom materials for a university.

    IDE to SCSI Adaptor Review of the ACard ARS-2000FW

    ACARD Tech. - Makes SCSI to IDE converters.

  4. What a coinkidink... by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just contacted Addonics to get a returned materials authorization (RMA) number for my IDE to SCSI adaptor, since it would not work.

    Specifically, when I hooked it up to my Maxtor 120G drive and my SGI Indy, the Indy didn't see the drive. Hooking it up to my Linux box's Adaptec controller let me get the drive info (cat /proc/scsi/scsi), but any attempt to actually access sectors on the drive locked the SCSI bus up solid.

    The drive itself works just fine on the Linux box's IDE, as well on my Firewire bay, so that exonerates the drive. The Adaptec works just fine on my scanner, outboard 3G SCSI disk, and CD burner, so that exonerates the Linux box's SCSI controller. The SGI boots fine from its SCSI disks, exonerating the Indy.

    I told Addonics all this. Their response - "We've passed that on to our engineers." Two weeks later, when I had heard nothing, I contacted them again. "We are still waiting for our engineers".

    At that point I asked for an RMA. After they emailed me the RMA request form, and I faxed it back, they contact me via email - "Have you tried using our SCSI controller card - it works much better with our SCSI card."

    Now, were I using some generic SCSI card from a back alley somewhere I could accept this sort of a response, but Adaptec? Excuse me, who CREATED the SCSI standard? Ignoring the fact that I seriously doubt they have a SCSI controller card for my Indy (which is what I am trying to put the drive on).

    I'll be interested in hearing anybody else's experiences - after all my experience is just a datum.

    But if anybody else has a different IDE to SCSI adaptor they want to recommend, please reply.

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